Trying
by Kirakux
Summary: One Piece AU fanfiction Child!ASLxMom!ReaderxLaw
1. Trying 1: Opinions

You frowned at your best friends, you asked for their opinion and they tell you, "it's your choice." You looked at each of them, Robin didn't even look up from her book,she knew you'd do this eventually, even if it was now or when your older. Law looked up from his textbook with a frown, like Robin he knew this would happen, but it dosent mean he agrees with this. Zoro Just yawned and closed his eyes,leaning against the wall outside Law's dorm.

You three had come to visit Law who was normally to busy with school. You sighed,after almost ten years you should have expected this, " I asked for your opinions regardless if you already know I won't change my mind..." " If you won't change your mind why bother knowing what we think..?" Law sighed looking back at his textbook. You furrowed your brows. He was right, but still.

You were an orphan,you spent most of your life hoping someone would adopt you,but in this town,no orphans get adopted. A sigh escaped your lips ,it's with that train of thought that lead you to your choice now. " Can you come with me...?" You asked your childhood friend, you knew him the longest. He looks up again, his grey eyes looked tried from the sleepless nights his school work called for, "Is not like getting a pet... you don't need someone to help you pick them out..." He said before looking back at the book. You walked over and sit next to him, you lean your head on his shoulder and close your eyes. You hear him sigh, "(Name)..." "Please,I just don't want to go alone..." you hear him close the textbook. "fine... " he says after a few minutes, you hear Robin chuckle.

"Don't sign anything Law or you'll end up a daddy..." She muses,you feel Law tense, "Tch... " you laugh softly at him, " I wouldn't do that to you." You said as he sighs, " so...when?" "Tomorrow..." you said sheepishly,he stares at you for a moment then sighs, " That's why you asked if I had classes..." he concludes,you just smile innocently.

"Tomorrow then..." he says looking back at his textbook.


	2. Trying 2: Unnatural bonding

Law pulled his hat over his eyes,he didn't want to be here,but when he turns and looks at the woman next to him he just sighs and relaxes. You were pulling at a lose string sticking off your jacket, you were meeting the owner of the orphanage. You frown,you remember the woman on the other side of the phone laughing at you, "You want one of these brats? Why? You'll just throw them back in here in the end anyways." You bit your lower lip.

"Relax.." You jump at the sound of his voice, you look over at him. "Think she'll recognize me..?" You said a bit fearfully, one of his eyebrows raise, "So what if she does?" He asked, you stare at him for a moment, "I guess it wouldn't matter..." you said finally. He just sighed and crossed his arms. Fifteen minutes later a woman walls into the room. She was an elderly woman,her brown hair mostly white . She raised an eyebrow at the sight of us, the wrinkles on here forehead became more notable at this gesture.

"Alittle young aren't you?" She asked, you frown,but quickly change it to a smile, " I suppose but,at least I'm sure." Your respond,she scoffs. " yeah right. Let's just go see which unlucky bastard child gets some brats as parents..." she says motioning to follow her, you glared at her, Law had to clear his throat and nudge you to get your attention. " Come on." "This bitch though..." He smirks at your reaction while shoving you forward. The orphanage was old and run down,it's amazing this place wasnt condemned. Dirty children kept running by, you tried to get a better look at them but they avoided your gaze. The older woman lead is to a courtyard like area, there were more children,but they barely glanced at you.

" No wonder they aren't getting adopted..." Law mutters earning a weak glare from you. He shuts up as the woman stops in the center of the yard, " Well look around take your pick." She says boredly, you glance around and walk up to the nearest kids, a short hair girl with curls brown locks, "Hi!" You greet with a smile but she just frowns and backs away. You keep trying to talk to the kids but they all treat you the same way, with anger,fear,and eyes full of mistrust, just like she was.

You were losing hope,sighing you leaned against a tree in the back of the yard. "Hey! Get away from our tree!" A high pitched voice yelled out from above. Gasping you sit up and look up to see a kid with short black hair he was glaring down at her. "o-oh sorry... " she said getting up,he guess and started at here for a minute before turning to go up the tree again. " Wait!" He turned around, "What?" He said annoyed. " U-uh I uh, w-whats your name? I'm (Name)." She said smiling. He looked confused for a moment then with a frown he says, "Luffy. "

"Are you the lady trying to take one of us home?" He asked,sitting on one of the lower branches. Your smile widens, one that's not glareing at you to death,sorta. "Yep! I mean,who would wanna be stuck here?" "My brothers are here." He answers,your smile wavers slightly. " Really? Hmm..." you thought for a moment, " Yep! Ace and Sabo. " he confirms. "...Would they come too? " you ask him, his eyes widen. No one offered to take all three of them.

He frowns and tilts his had to the side thinking. " I...think...so?" He say's slowly. You smile brightly, " Okay then! Let's go tell that old hag!" You say grinning. He looks down surprised but then grins, " She is an old hag!" He says laughing. He jumps down and smiled up at you. Law stood a little ways away sighing,"bonding by insulting the elderly..." he chuckles following after them.


	3. Trying 3: 3 for 1 deals

Fifteen minutes later you were sitting in the main office in front of a desk. Law stood by the door holding one of his textbooks, the elderly woman went to go find the documents on the three boys that sat as far from you as possible. Luffy was looking confused and anxious, his brothers were glaring at him. Luffy was sitting next to a blonde boy that was acting as a barrier between the youngest and the oldest child. Luffy introduced him as Sabo, and the angry one on the opposite side of the blonde, Ace. Luffy had a bruise on his left cheek from being punched by Ace, which lead to Luffy hitting Ace back, so now the fuming child with the freckles had a scratch on his chin and a bruise on his forehead.

You could almost feel the disapproval coming from Law about your choice. You looked back at him as he looked between you and the kids, then back to his textbook, letting a sigh escape his lips ever few minutes. "Problem Law?" You asked him jokingly and he just looks up from his book and he glares at you. You flinch and look away, "He's not happy~..." You said lowly looking back at the trio. All three of them were looking at you now, you shyly waved at them, "H-hello~..." "Tch..." The oldest looked away from you pissed off, The blonde one just frowned at you while Luffy waved back, earning a smack from Ace. "Idiot don't wave at her!" "Ow..! Why the hell did you hit me!?"

They started fighting again, you see the blond one sigh and separate them again, and eventually they settle back to glaring at each other. The elderly lady came back with a stack of folders, she slams them onto the desk in front of you, "These three huh..."She begins looking at them, they all glare at her and she scoffs, "Can't say I'm sad to see them go." She finishes, pulling out a thick form. "Fill this out."She instructs, you take it and begin to fill it out.

It took three hours before you finished, you yawned as you finished signing your name on the last piece of paper, the woman takes the form and drops it ontop a pile of unkept papers. "Okay that's it your done." She said boredly, "Now get out." She said shooing us off. "That's it?" You echo confused, you assumed it would take more to adopt kids, "I don't care much for the way people do it now and days, so just take them and get lost. If you don't want them anymore take them to a different orphanage I don't want them back again." She says bluntly. You hear Law scoff you turn around and see he didn't even bother to look up from his textbook,"If that's it lets go..."He yawns, he starts to walk out but then stops, "You'll have to wake them up yourself." He ways walking out.

You look over at the three kids you just adopted, you felt nervous, but very happy. You walked over to them, and smiled. Ace was leaning on top of Sabo's head, Luffy leaning on Sabo's shoulder, turning Sabo into the pillow. "So cute..." You laugh softly squatting in front of them. "Hey boys, wake up..."You said shaking Ace and Luffy's shoulders. Ace yawns loudly, waking Sabo, "Five more minutes..." Luffy mumbles rubbing his eyes yawning. You giggle at them, Ace waking up fully at the sight of you, he immediately starts glaring. You feign shock and pout slightly, "You were cuter asleep.~" You whine, his eyes widen and he looks away annoyed, and mildly embarrassed. This made Luffy laugh, "You're bluuushing~" He sang, earning a smack from the older boy, Sabo laughs.

"I said get out!" You heard the woman yell from her desk. You frown in her direction then turn to the boys, "Let's go before the witch tries to eat us." You said standing up, you start walking to the door, Luffy following closely behind you. "What kind of house do you have? Do you have a pet? Do you eat meat? Will I get meat? I'm hungry can we eat? Will I have my own room? Can I have toys? Do I get my own clothes? Do you have a bathroom? Do you even have a house?" He keeps asking questions, not giving you time to answer any of them before moving onto the next one. The other two followed further behind you, staying silent, but sharing looks with each other and sighing at all of Luffy's questions.

When you made it outside you saw Law had pulled up to the front of the orphanage, "You came here for one and your leaving with three..." He sighs glaring at Luffy, who had not stopped asking questions. "This one is talkative..." You laugh and smile at him , "Thanks for coming with me..." you said and he just waves you off. "Get in...its getting late so should we stop for dinner before I drop you all off?" He asks going around the car and into the drivers seat. "Yes, thank you again!" He just sighs, "Just hurry up..."


	4. Trying 4: New Home

Dinner went terribly, the first thing you learn about the boys is that they never stop eating. You look at Law who was glaring at the road, he was very unhappy with the bill. "I am so-" "Stop." He interrupted, he glanced at you and his glare softened, you looked happy. He looked back at the road and sighed, "Next time, a buffet." He said ,making you laugh. "Thank you, Law." You sighed looking behind you, the boys were asleep in the back seat. "They are really cute.." "For living vacuums..." "Law..!" You smacked him playfully on his shoulder, he chuckles. "Are you sure about this? I mean...to be honest no one raised you so..." "How can I raise three kids?" He falls silent, the car humming while they drove down a dark street.

"If you need anything..." He started, avoiding looking in your direction. "Just call me..." "If your not busy with school, sure." "(Name)..." He sighed. "Your studying to be a doctor you don't need this big of a distraction..." You said softly, he glanced at you again. "I'd still come and help..." You smiled at him, "Thanks Law."

Twenty minutes later he pulled into a driveway of a two story home, he turned off the car, everything went was a comfy silence that filled the air. "So I'll...see you later, text me." You said,opening the car door. "Guys wake up we're here!" You call out, waking up the older two. You run up to the house and unlock the door, opening it you reach in and flip the porch light on. Sabo stood in front of the steps, looking at the outside of the house. "You won't be able to see it very well until the morning." You said jokingly, he looks at you then at the ground.

He didn't move forward, just stood there, covering his face with the tall hat he had on his head. Ace showed up a few minutes later carrying Luffy, Ace walked up the steps and past you into the house, then Sabo followed. "Hmm..." You hummed waving at Law as he backed up, you closed the door.

One of them had turned on the lights to the living room, it was a fairly large living room with a corner sofa shaped like an L the longer side backed against the back wall, with a large window above it, at both ends of the couch there were two small tables, there was an oval glass coffee table in the center of the room, and across from the longer portion of the couch was the entertainment center, covered in all kinds of video games that you had collected over the years. There wasn't any decoration pieces, making the room look bare in a way. Connected to the right of the Living room was the Dining room, you had to walk up two small steps to get in there, there was a decent sized table with five chairs, right in front of you as you enter the dining room from the living room. To your left would be a large sliding glass doors, leading outside into the backyard. To the right was the kitchen, stainless steel appliances, dark grey counter tops with white cabinets. entering the kitchen from the dining room the fridge would be in front of you on the opposite side of the kitchen, next to the fridge, to the right is the exit into the hallway. On the other side of the fridge is a small bit of counter space, then the stove along with the oven, the microwave was above the stove. The sink, with more counter space took up the wall opposite of the exit into the hallway, to the left of the sink built in next to the lower cabinets is the dishwasher. To the left of the living room is an office space, well it would be if you ever would need an office. across from the kitchen exit, in the hallway is an half bathroom, beside that is the stairs that lead to five bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.

You snap out of your daze, the two boys were looking at you,"Are you okay lady?" Sabo asks, "Huh? Yeah sorry, I don't know why but for some reason I was remembering the houses layout in detail, that was odd..." You said thoughtfully, the boy's looked at each other. "So I guess you can pick your rooms, they are up the stairs, if it looks occupied then odds are it is, so pick any one you want!" You told them smiling, the boys exchanged looks again and slowly made their way up stairs.

"Smooth (Name) Smooth...you look like a weirdo to them now..." You sigh following after them. You hear one door open and close and frown, you get up here and see the light on in one of the rooms, " I guess...it's not unusual...they don't want their own rooms yet, they don't trust me..." You sigh walking around the stairs, to the room behind the railing. It wasn't the master bedroom, but it was the one with the best view of the outside. You kicked off your shoes and flopped onto the bed, you felt exhausted. You hear them walking around for a bit, and after thirty minutes you hear nothing. You were about to drift to sleep when you got a chat alert.

The following stuff is the chat he following names are: ('you' can change the name of your friends so 'you' changed their names too)  
KiraKira- you  
Bookworm- Robin  
MisterFuzzyHat- Law  
Smokey- Smoker  
Drunk- shanks  
Swordfetish- Zoro  
Birdy - Mihawk  
GrandpaFist - Garp  
Pennyless- Belemere

KiraKira Joins Group.  
Bookworm: How did it go?  
MisterFuzzyHat: Alright, Old lady at the place was a bitch though.  
Smokey: Boy or Girl?  
KiraKira: 3 boys.  
Smokey:Three?  
Bookworm: Oh, (Name)...  
Bookworm: Why didn't you stop her Law?  
MisterFuzzyHat: She wouldn't have listened...  
Drunk: Ooooh whats ther names?  
KiraKira: Ace,Sabo,Luffy  
Drunk: OMG WHAT  
GrandpaFist:WHAT  
Birdy: I shouldn't be laughing but.  
Drunk: IKR  
GrandpaFist: IM COMING OVER  
KiraKira: Not right now your not i am going to bed, and they went to bed to so -bleh!-  
Drunk: I can't, out of all the kids there!  
KiraKira: GOOD NIGHT  
Bookworm: Good night (Name)  
Smokey: Good night  
Drunk: Nooo waaaait tell me more  
KiraKira Leaves Group.

Sighing you toss your phone across the room, now you were going to have to wake up and deal with Garp. You squeeze your eyes shut, wanting to scream into your pillow. This was not going to end well was it...


	5. Trying 5: Tsundere

You wake up to the sounds of someone abusing your front door,you sit up and look at the alarm clock on your nightstand, "It's six in the god damn morning..." you sighed, getting out of bed you pass a mirror on the way out of the room, "Shit..." You forgot to change your clothes, and on top of that your hair looked oily, you needed a bath. Frowning at your reflection you continued out of the room, bath is going to have to wait till after you kill whoever is at your front door.

You pass the boys room to see it cracked open, three pairs of eyes watched you walk past them and down the stairs, you heard the door open and three sets of footsteps follow yours. Great their first day here and they are about to see you murder someone. "Who ever is at the door better have a good damn reason for waking me up at six in the fucking morning!" You yelled, opening the front door you paled. "Ah fu-" "(Name)! Where are they!? And how dare you speak to your elders like that!?" Garp yelled smacking you on the forehead, the force sent you stumbling backwards, you tripped and fell. "Ow..!" You yelped putting a hand to your forehead.

You heard three voices gasp, followed by three sets of footsteps running back up the steps. "Was that them!?" Garp yelled, letting himself inside, "Boys!" "Noooo that was three other kids I seemed to have adopted." You said sarcastically, earning a frown from the old man. "I came to see if you really adopted my grandsons." "Well considering how fast they ran seeing it was you, I'd vote yes." You muttered walking over to the steps, you look up and see them hiding beside the railing, their eyes were wide. "Your scaring them." You accused, pointing your finger at the man. He walked over and looked up at the boys.

All three of them ran into the room they were in last night, "They were probably asleep until you showed up!" "Boys get down here!" "Hey I'm talking to you!" you yelled raising your voice, jabbing a finger at the man. "(Name)! You are much to young to be raising three kids, I'll be taking them back!" "To hell you will!" You screamed stepping onto the steps blocking the old mans way. "It is way to early for this...but I figured he'd come here early." Someone spoke from the front door.

You look ave to see a man with red hair, your frown deepens for a moment. "If you didn't come here to help then please leave." You told the man, he laughs walking over to Garp, who was glaring at him. "How dare you show yourself in front of a Police chief you mafioso!" Garp yells, the red head raises his hands defensively, "I didn't come here to start a fight." He says laughing a little. You hear someone running down the steps and past you, Luffy jumped and landed on the red head. "Shanks!" He yelled, you frowned at him. "You know these kids too?" "Not so much the other two, just this one." Shanks corrects.

"Luffy what do you think your doing!? Get away from the bastard right now." You sigh as Garp starts ranting, Shanks just keeps laughing and Luffy hides behind Shanks. You turn around and look at the top of the steps, the older two are sitting on the top step. Ace was frowning at all of this, but Sabo looked like he could start laughing at any moment. "Ahh..."You sigh as Garp takes a swing at Shanks who just picks up Luffy and moves out of the way. "You two want to help me with breakfast?" You call up to the boys, Ace just huffs and looks away, Sabo stands up. "Sure." He says walking down the steps.

You walk past Garp, who was about to swing at Shanks again, "You guys want coffee?" You ask, "Sure, thanks." Shanks said moving to the side, away from another punch. Garp just grunts in response before he starts yelling about how terrible the mafia is. You walk into the kitchen and pull out everything you need to make pancakes, "You seem use to that..." Sabo comments, pulling the milk out. "This happens...a lot..." You sigh again, running a hand through your hair.

You hear something fall and shatter in the living room and you frown. "If that was my TV or the game systems I will fucking kill you both!" You scream and you hear swift reply's , "It wasn't!" "Nope!" You pull up a stool and motion for Sabo to stand on it, he climbs up and you get him started on mixing the ingredients. "Which means I need a new coffee table right?" You called out after Sabo starts mixing. The Silence as your answer. A few minutes later you see Luffy run in, "Wheres the dust pan?" He asks, "They arn't making you clean it are they..?" "No they are." You grin and point to the closet next to the bathroom.

Sabo laughs quietly, "They know what happens if I get pissed off.." You whispered, giggling. Once everything was mixed you grabbed a ladle and moved him over to the skillet. You show him how much to pour, and when to flip it. Your pancake looks perfect, but the first few Sabo makes are strange looking, he frowns, focusing on the pancake cooking. You laugh at how concentrated he was, from the corner of your eyes you see Ace standing by the entrance to the kitchen. "You want to try?" You ask him and he crosses his arms and looks away.

"Oh my god..." He looks at you confused, "Are you a tsundere?" You laugh, you hear Sabo drop the spatula. You look over to see him covering his mouth trying not to laugh. Ace glares, his cheeks turn red. "No!" He yelled making you laugh harder. His face gets redder, Sabo starts laughing too. "Shut up!" Ace screams making Luffy walk into the kitchen from the dining room. "Whats going on?" He asks, Shanks and Garp peek around the corner. You grin at Luffy and point at Ace. "He's a Tsundere." Luffy tilts his head in confusion, as both the men behind him start laughing. "Ace, what's a Tsundere?" Luffy asks, Ace glares at him. "Shut up, it's nothing!" Luffy frowns and looks at Sabo, who just grins and says, "It means-" "The pancake is burning." Ace interrupts pointing at the stove, which was not producing smoke. "Ah!" You jump up, grabbing the skillet by the handle and moving it to the sink.

You let Sabo finish up breakfast, with the help of Garp and Shanks who kept trying to tell him when and how to flip the pancakes. You made the table, placing out all the plates and glasses. Luffy pulls on the bottom of your shirt, you look down at him to see him frowning. "What is it?" you asked squatting down to get eye leveled with him. "Whats a Tsundere?" He asks again, you giggle and right before you answer you feel someone smack you on the side of your head, Luffy yelps, which means he probably got hit too.

"I said shut up about that!" Ace yells glaring at both of you.


	6. Trying 6: Burnt pancakes and 20 question

Breakfast was awkward, to say the least. The boys hardly looked up from their plates, and if they did it was the exchange looks with each other. You took a bite out of the burnt pancakes, you were just going to throw them out but Sabo looked a little guilty for burning them so you'd power through it. Garp watched you eat the pancake and sighed.

"(Name)" He started, you glanced over to him before looking back at the charcoal on your plate. "If they were three normal children, then I wouldn't be worried about you raising them..." You frowned before taking another bite. "But all three of them have fruit powers...you yourself should know how troublesome it can be." "Then I should be better off than someone who has no understanding about their powers." You looked up from your plate, narrowing your gaze at the old man.

"But three at once, and two Logia, the same power even." He said pointing his fork at Ace and Sabo. "That doesn't bother me. Want some more coffee, Shanks?" You changed the topic, he just nods. "Not going to say anything?" "Not my business.." "Your the one who came here knowing Garp was here..." He looked over to join a grinned, "Just making sure he doesn't leave with them." "So that would make this your business..." He just looks over at Luffy, "Good pancakes, right?" "Y-yup!"Luffy answers back, shoving a forkful in his mouth, then chews them slowly, glancing nervously at his grandfather.

You sigh and glare at the old man. "Get out." "What?" he looks at you shocked. "They arn't eating the way they like because of you so get out." You said pointing towards the direction of the front door. "But I-" "No buts mister get out, you over stayed your welcome, and have been quite rude!" you hear Shanks laugh, glancing at him he covers his mouth with his hand. Garp looks at you shocked and starts laughing. "There you go, there's some backbone!" You glare at him, "I'm serious, I'd like their first breakfast here to be decent, but with you here they are just nervous!" You start to raise you voice and he puts up his hands defensively. "Alright alright..." He says getting up, still chuckling to himself. "Alright boys, I expect you to want to behave, and (Name) you better raise them to be policemen!" He says walking out.

You hear the front door close and you scoff, "Ain't no way in hell anyone in this house becomes a policeman is that understood?" The three boys look at you and grin, "Okay!" Shanks starts laughing, "Your raising delinquents? " "Hell yeah!" You grin.

The rest of breakfast was nice. Afterwards you ere washing the dishes as the boy's explored the house, Luffy kept coming into the kitchen to ask questions. "How big is this house? "" Why don't you go walk around and find out?" "How old are you?" "twenty." "Do you know how old I am?" "Seven." "Do you have a job?" "Yes, I work at a cafe." "Do you have work today?" "No, I have a few days off so I can be with you guys." You smile at him, "Are you married?" "Nope." "Do you have a boyfriend?" "Nope.." "What do I call you?" "(Name)" "Your not going to make me call you mom?" You laugh lightly, "No, that's your choice."

He keeps asking you questions, some about Law, who he meet yesterday. Some about how I knew his Grandfather, which was because you got into a lot of trouble as a kid, which is why you know most of your friends now, including the man who just walked into the kitchen. "forgot to put the cup in the sink." Shanks said putting the cup in the soapy dishwater, you mock being angry. "Just bringing more in here for me to clean, gosh!" You pout, before laughing. "Sooorry." He responds walking back out the room, Luffy follows him.

Ace walks in and sits on the stool Luffy was on and stares at you. "What is is Tsuntsun?" You asked, he glares at you. "Don't call me that!" "Alright alright, what do you want?" You laugh, drying off your hands. "Why did you adopt us?" "Why shouldn't have I?" He frowns at you, you sigh and walk over to him, "Come on, lets go get your brothers and go out." "Where?" "I don't know, somewhere I guess." He stares at you, "Your weird."

You laugh, "Yeah I guess I am..." You walk into the living room where Luffy was talking to Shanks. "Where's Sabo?" "Over here." You hear him running down the steps. "Did you guys pick your rooms yet?" All three of them look away from you, you laugh. "It's alright you don't have to pick one right now. Anyways lets go." They look at you confused, "Let's go out, can't do much at home so where do you guys want to go?" "The park!" Luffy shouts jumping up, the other two quickly agree. "Okay okay, and what about you, sir. Your not staying here I hope." You said turning to Shanks who just laughs, "No no, I have to go actually." "Aww..." Luffy pouts, Shanks pats his head. "See yah, thanks for breakfast!" He says walking out with a small wave.

"Why did he even come today...It's like he wanted to be introduced or something..." "What?" Ace asks looking up at you, "Nothing nothing, I think I heard the fourth wall cracking..." He looks at you confused. You start laughing, "Come on guys lets go, I'm hoping to get you to meet some friends of mine today anyways."


	7. Trying 7: Sandtrap and your it!

It was around eleven thirty when you reached the park,all three of them bolted for the park as soon as it came into view. You ran after them, by the time you reached the park all three of them had disappeared into the crowd of children already there. You frowned and looked around for spotted Luffy, or rather you spotted his straw hat that was always on him, on the jungle gym. He was hanging upside down yelling at someone on the fort looking thing, it had multiple levels and was painted in a bunch of bright vibrant colors, looking close to the top you spotted Ace who seemed to be yelling at him to come up.

Luffy, who was being stubborn crossed his arms, still upside down, and shook his head. You smiled at them, but quickly frowned when you couldn't see the third child. You heard one of the parents yelling and looked over at them, they were pointing at the top of the tower thing. Following the direction they were pointing you gasped and frowned. On the very tip of the colorful contraption sat the blonde boy. He called out to Luffy who looked up at him and gasped. "Uh oh..." You sighed watching Luffy jump down from the jungle gym.

You were about to call out to him when he stretches his arms and grabs the top of the tower, where Sabo was. You see Sabo back away, yelling at Luffy. Luffy shoots himself to the top, Ace reaches out and grabs his foot as he flies by, being pulled back down. He stretches all the way back down and smacks his head on the ground and slings back to Ace who pulls him inside. Sabo is still on the top, laughing. You frown up at him, he see's you and grins. "Hey (Name)!" He calls out waving, you sigh and wave back.

"You can't be up there!" You called up, he frowns at you. "So?" "It's not safe." "So?" "So you need to get down!" You said getting irritated. He smirks, "So?" "I'll climb up there!" His smirk widens, he crosses his arms and stares at you. You frown and grab the ladder on the side that leads up. You see Ace smirking at you from the level right above you. "Are adults allowed up here?" You here Luffy ask, "Nope!" Ace tells him dropping a shovel that was up there on your head. "Oww!" You whined glaring at him, he just grins and turns to Luffy, "Go fill up those buckets in the sandbox and bring them here." He whispers, Luffy salutes and runs off.

You start to climb again but Ace drops a toy truck this time. "Ow! Knock it off!" You yell throwing it back, You hear the boys laugh at you ,you keep climbing up. "Got it!" You hear Luffy yell, you grab the edge to the level they were on and pull yourself up. You see them run up the steps to the next level. You climb over the side, ducking a little. "Man I haven't been on one of these in years..." You mutter, "You're so old now!" You hear Luffy giggle, looking up you see him peeking through the little holes in the floor.

"Hey Luffy move!" You hear Ace order him, You see Luffy move as something dripped through the floor. Brushing some of your cheek you saw it was Sand." What..?" You looked up just as a bunch of sand pours through the holes, it gets into your eyes and mouth making you cough and stumble backwards. You trip and fall off the tower.

You smack your head on the ground and all the air gets knocked out of your lungs. You lay there dazed and coughing, rolling onto your side you keep coughing. You hear children screaming as someone tries to help you sit up. "(Name)!? Are you okay what are you doing here? Your to old to be playing on this stuff!" You hear someone yell at you, you open your eyes and see Bellemere.

Still coughing you rub your eyes and grin at her, "Sorry I couldn't resist!~" You joked, catching your breath. "(Name)!" You hear Luffy call out above you, looking up you see him looking upset. "Are you okay?" He asked, Ace didn't say anything but he was frowning now. You could see Sabo climbing down. "I'm fine! I just tripped." You said laughing. "I'm sorry.." Luffy said.

"Who are they?" You heard Bellemere ask, "Oh, uh. Boys get down here I want you to say hi to Bellemere, and I assume your daughters are here too?" You told them, directing the last part at Bellemere, who nodded and called for them. "Nojiko! Nami!" "Yeeees?" You hear two girls call back. "Come here for a minute!" "Okaay!"

A few minutes later the boys were standing next to you, Luffy brushed some sand off your shirt, you laugh and pat his head. Bellemere was standing next to two girls, both of them smiled at you when they saw you. "Hi miss (Name)!" They greeted, you smiled at them. "Hello Nojiko, Nami!" "So who are these three?" Bellemere asked smiling at them. They moved away from her and looked at me. "Guys, this is Bellemere and her two daughters, Nojiko, and Nami!" You told them, pointing at them as you said their name. Looking over at Bellemere, "These are the kids I adopted yesterday, I told everyone in chat last night." You told her and she gasped. "These three? Ooooh and whats your name." She said walking over and squatting down in front of Luffy who frowned at her.

"I'm Luffy!" He said, grabbing the bottom of your shirt. Ace just looked away from them frowning. Sabo smiled, "I'm Sabo." He nudged Ace, "This is Ace." "Hey-!" Ace said swatting at Sabo who moved away from him and stood on the other side of you. He stuck his tongue out at him. You laughed at them, "Come on be nice.." You said patting the top of Sabo's hat.

"Hi!" Nami walks up to them and they all turn to her, "Wanna play?" She asks Ace frowns at her. "But your a girl." She glares at him. "So?" "We don't play with girls!" Ace huffs, crossing his arms. You see Sabo roll his eyes and Luffy looks confused. "Why?" "Cause they're weak." He says bluntly, Nami huffs while Nojiko walks up, "Thats not fair, what your afraid you'll lose to a girl that much?" She accuses, Ace glares at her. "No..! I just-" "Bawk bawk bawk" Nami taunts him, Sabo starts snickering as Ace's face turns red.

"FINE!" He glares at them, Sabo starts laughing and Luffy grins. "Lets play tag!" He says, he pokes Nami. "Your it!" He yells running off, The rest quickly scatter leaving a flustered Nami. "H-hey no fair!" She yells running after them. You giggle at them and follow Bellemere over to one of the park benches, you sit down and try to get the rest of the sand out of your hair. "First day and they already seem like a handful." She comments watching Luffy stretch his arms, launching himself across the park, avoiding Nami.

"All three of them have fruit abilities..." You sigh, chuckling to yourself while watching Sabo climb to the top of the jungle bars. He see's you and waves, you wave back. "So one of them is a Paramecia..." She muses, "The other two are Logia" You finish, she looks at you shocked. "Both of them!? Woow hope its not too destructive..." "They both turn into fire." You laugh as she gapes at you. "I hope you have fire insurance on everything you own!" You think about that for a moment with a frown on your face, "I probably should get that shouldn't I?" She sighs shaking her head at you. "Yes you should!"

You watch as Nami sneaks up on Ace and smacks him on the back of the head, he gets angry, his hands catching fire. "ACE!" You screamed so loudly it made him jump, He quickly looked at you, you pointed to your hands and he looks at his. The fire goes out and he rubs the back of his head. He see's Sabo on top of the jungle bars and runs over and climbs up them, Sabo jumps off and runs away.

"A temper on that one..." Bellemere comments, you look over at her and see she's tense. "Sorry about that." "Don't worry about it, nothing happened...but you should keep an eye out for him..." She remarks, watching Nami hide behind a tree. "Yeah..." You mutter just as Ace catches Sabo. You sit there watching them for awhile, but when you hear the clock chime at twelve you stand up. "Want to have lunch with us?" You ask Bellemere who looks over to you quickly. "Really!?" She asks, a little to hopeful. "Y-yeah, I'll pay.." "Thank yooooou!" She says hugging you, you laugh.

"Guys! Let's go have lunch!" You call out, and at the mere mention of food they come running as fast as they can to you. Bellemere laughs at them. "You too girls, (Name) is paying!" She cheers, you hear the girls cheer as they run over too. You laugh weakly, "Y-yeah...lets go!"


	8. Trying 8: Wandering hands

You paid the cashier and stood back,allowing the next costumer to order their meal, they glared at you as they passed. You just laughed nervously,you spent an exceptional about of time,and not to mention money, on lunch. You bought over fifty, that's right, fifty! Ham burgers, the cashier had looked at you shocked,they had to call out the manager,who confirmed my order. They took the money,made sure it was real,then put their cooks to work.

"(Name)?" You looked down at Luffy who had grabbed the bottom of your shirt,and was tugging it lightly.  
"Yes Luffy? " He pouts,puffing his cheeks out slightly.  
"I'm hungry.." He whines,you laugh.  
"The foods cooking,Luffy, go play in the mini playground with the others." He puffs his cheeks more,frowning.  
"It will be done soon,I promise. " you laugh,trying not to squeal at how cute he was.

He gave you a big toothy grin and ran off in search of his brothers. You couldn't help but smile,in a day you already were starting to love those three, although it could be to early to tell. You sighed and crossed your arms,you were going to be waiting for awhile,looking around at all the people here you notice a familiar hat, you grinned and walked over to the man with his nose struck in an textbook.

"You study even during your lunch break,Law?" He looks up at you startled slightly.  
"Ah,(Name)." He greets you with a small smile.  
"And yes,I do. It takes a lot to be a doctor." He says turning back to his book. You grin and pull his hat off his head and place it on yours.  
"(Name)…" he starts,looking over at you glaring. You just smile sweetly and plop in the chair in front of him.  
"What're you working on?" You asked,dodging his hand when he reached for his hat. He sighs and looks back at his book.  
"We are working on poisons,and their effects on the body. We have to be able to recognize them,and the symptoms they cause ,and we have to be able to cure it,if it has a cure yet..." he starts going into detail about it and you try your best to follow along,after a few minutes he stops and frowns at you.  
"Did you even understand any of that?" He asks,you smile at him weakly.  
"A bit but,not as much as you do I'm sure.." he sighs then smiles at you.  
"At least you listen." He stares at you for a moment,a frown on his lips.  
"You look tried..." he comments,he reaches across the table, brushing some of your hair out of your face. You blush slightly and lean away,he pulls his hand back quickly,looking at it puzzled.  
"Number 43 you order is at the counter!" You hear them call out your number. You get up quickly and swiftly took his hat off and handed it back to him. Still blushing slightly you give him a small smile and a wave,  
"Talk to you on chat later!" You call out rushing over to the counter.  
"Y-yeah..." he answers,still looking at his hand.

You went to the counter and see three trays,two holding twenty five burgers,and the last one had the drinks and a large quantity of fries, you sigh to yourself,how on earth were you suppose to carry all of this. You grab two of the trays but stare at the one with the drinks, frowning you walk off with the burgers. You find Bellemere near the back,you place the burgers down and explain you'll be back with the last tray. You return to the front and grab the drinks and fries. You then proceed back to the table to see Bellemere already called the kids to the table.

"Stop! Wait for Ms (Name)!" You see Nami smack Luffy's hand away from the burgers,he gets angry and smacks at her hand.  
"But I'm hungry!" he huffs, crossing his arms.  
"Both of you cut it out." You said putting the last tray down. They both pout at you and you giggle,  
"You can eat now!"

As soon as you said this everyone at the table grabbed at anything edible, you felt less and less hungry watching them eat. The girls were a bit cleaner,but they devoured their food,but you seriously doubted they'll eat as much as the boys. Bellemere had stuffed a Burger into her mouth,earning giggles from her daughters. Because of Luffy's ability he managed to stuff four burgers in his mouth,turning into a human hamster. Out of the three Sabo was the cleanest,still very messy but in comparison he was definitely the cleanest. Ace was scarfing down as much as he could,bits of Burger would land everywhere. He paused for a moment,looking at you while chewing his food.

"What?" You ask him,he swallows.  
"Your not eating." He says taking another bite.  
"I'm not that hungry." You respond,you pick up a napkin and wipe some ketchup off his cheek. He blushed and pushes your hand away,glaring at you.  
"All you ate was Sabo's stupid burnt pancakes!" He declared, you hear Sabo choke slightly and starts coughing. Ace looks at him and he glared back,  
"Shut up!" He hisses. Ace just smirk at him before turning back to you with a frown.  
"Eat!" He orders,pointing at the food. You glare at him,  
"No." You say stubbornly. He tried to hand you the Burger he was eating,this makes both his brothers look at him like he's lost it. They don't say anything,they just look between the Burger then at you and Ace. Watching their reaction made you smile,you grab one of the wrapped burgers and pat Ace on the head.  
"Eat yours,I'll eat this one,thank you though. " you reach over and give him a quick hug, he wiggles away from you,his face red.  
"Y-yeah whatever..!" He huff,glaring at Sabo who's snickering at him.

You giggle at them and take a bite of your Burger. Your eyes wandered over to Law,who was sitting a few tables away,his noise in the textbook again. You hear the girls giggle,raising your eyebrow looking over at them. They made kissy faces and you sigh shaking your head,the boys had a disgusted look on their face and you laughed.

"Yeah,no that's probably never gonna happen..." you mutter,biting into your Burger.


	9. Trying 9: Young teachers and bad landing

You bid farewell to the girls while leaving the restaurant. You were carrying Luffy on your back,he was already asleep. It was only two in the afternoon,so you tried to think of where else to go. Frowning to yourself you needed them to be enrolled to the school near you, so you turned to the older two.

"What school do you go to?" You asked them, they look at you and then at each other.  
"Rozen elementary... " Sabo said.  
"Hmm...that schools a little far...what do you think about switching schools?" You asked,smiling at them. They both shrugged, "Whatever..." they said together.  
"Well it's only two and school ends at three, we can get you guys signed up!" You decided,they both pouted.  
"W-what?" You ask,Ace glared at you.  
"I don't like school.." he growled,you laughed and he grossed his arms looking away.  
"I didn't either to be honest... I just graduated not long ago.." you said thoughtfully.  
"Really?" Sabo asked, you grinned at him.  
"If two years isn't to long." Ace frowns at you,  
"Two years is a long time!" You laughed,  
" I guess two years is a long time to you!" You grinned.

You walked them to Blue Bell Elementary. It was a one story school building that looked new. You looked around grinning like an idiot,you had woken Luffy up along the way he was following along holding the back of Sabo's shirt. The boys stared at you as you walked into the building looking amazed.

"What is she doing?" You heard Luffy ask his brothers,looking over you see them shrug.  
"Who knows she's weird... "Ace says bluntly, you hold your hand to your heart pretending to be hurt. Sabo laughs at you, "Really weird! " he grins when you pout at him.  
"So mean..." you whine, while walking back over to them.  
"What were you doing?" Luffy asks,you grin at him.  
"This place is a lot smaller than I remember.." you mused,they looked at you confused.  
"You went here?" Sabo asks,you nod.  
"But the place looks new!" Ace pointed out.  
"The place went through a lot of renovations." You explained.  
Luffy still looked confused, "What does that mean? " Ace rolls his eyes while Sabo explains,  
"They took the old building and made it new." "How'd they do that?" You sighed, and walked over to him. You squat down and pat his head, "Google it!" You gave him a thumbs up, he glared at you.

You heard someone coming down the hall towards you,you stand up and turn around to see a woman with long blonde hair she stops inferior of you,straightening her glasses.

"Excuse me but what is your business here?" She asks,looking between you and the boys.  
"I want to enroll them for next week." You said motioning towards the boys, she smiled at them and then at you.  
"I see,follow me then. I am vice principal Kalifa. " she says, leading you to the office.

The boys followed behind slowly,whispering to each other. Kalifa talked about how good the school was,and about it's new renovations which were done by a company called Galley-la. We made it to the office where a man with purplish white hair was, Kalifa greets him.

"Good afternoon principle Spandam." He looks over with a bored look.  
"Huuuh? Oh yes right,good afternoon.." he shrugs,walking out the room. You raise an eyebrow at his behavior but decide not to question it. Kalifa acts like it's a normal thing so you shrug it off.  
"Sign these,this is for is to get their previous schools records." She starts handing you a bunch of paper.  
"This is to request their medical records,and this is to sign them up,and this -" she keeps handing you paper to sign,you look at the paper stack as it grew higher and higher. You groaned,glaring behind you when you heard the boys laughing.

You spent over an hour signing everything, not long after you started the process of signing everything a teacher came in,Lucci, Kalifa introduced him. He offered to show them around the school,which they happily accepted. They really didn't like being in one place for to long.

"How old is he?" You asked Kalifa, referring to Lucci.  
"Seems a bit young for a teacher.." she nods,  
"He's twenty six." She said,straightening her glasses. You finish up the last document and handed it to her.  
"Nice to see all the teachers here aren't old people now. " you muse, she looks over at you with a small smile.  
"I suppose.. all your paper work is done now,if things go smoothly then they can start Monday." You smile and thank her before heading into the hall looking for the boys.  
"Now where did they go..." you mutter walking down the hall.

Bell school is an all in one school, blue bell being the elementary school. It is also the one with the smallest building,with a playground next to it. To the left of blue bell,is green bell junior high. It was a two story building that was slightly larger than blue bell. To the right of blue bell was a large building,red bell, it was two stories tall and was two green bells smashed together. In the center of the buildings were the sports fields. You walk around blue bell,wondering if they are exploring the other buildings. You step outside and look around,you see the playground and sigh. There they were,playing on the playground. Lucci was pushing Luffy and Sabo on the swings, Ace was climbing the monkey bars next to the swing set. There was another guy there,you stopped for a second,staring at his nose. It was square? Luffy notices you and jumps off the swing running over to you.

"(Name)! (Name)!" He yells, jumping and latches himself on to your waist.  
"This place is so cool!" He yells,grinning up at you. You laugh at him and pat his head.  
"Really?" You ask as he pulls you over to the swings.  
"Yeah!" He yells excitedly. "Here try it!" He says trying to pull you onto the swings. The guy with the square nose laughs. You chuckle and shake your head.  
"No thanks." He pouts, "come on!" He insists.  
"Sabo help!" He yells pulling my arm, Sabo laughs and gets off his swing and helps. You can hear Ace snickering.  
"Come ooooon! " they whine pulling you, you sigh.  
"Alright alright I give now stop pulling my arms off! " you laugh. "I'm sure I'm to big for this now anyways.." you say as you sit down, "Never mind.." you chuckle, you hear someone behind you chuckle and turn around to see Lucci and the square guy.  
"Hi..." you laugh nervously.  
"Hello, Mrs..?" The square guy says,you laugh.  
"Ms, it's Ms (Name)" You correct,both the men look mildly surprised.  
" Are you really these three 's mother?" The square guy asks.  
"Adopted them recently.." you smile at their reaction  
"A single young woman adopts the boys..." he muses,earning a look from Lucci. He raises his arms defensively,  
"It's admirable. " he says laughing, Lucci rolls his eyes.  
"I'm Kaku. The gym teacher for high-school. " He greets, offering his hand. You shake it.  
"Nice to meet you." You say as you feel someone start to push you,looking down you see Luffy trying to make you swing.

You giggle and help him a little bit,you start to swing slowly. Sabo had went back to his swing being pushed by Lucci again. He laughs at Luffy. You see Ace jump down from the monkey bars and helps Luffy push. They both push you together but it doesn't make you swing faster. They both grunt,getting annoyed, you hear someone sigh. You felt a larger hand push you and you yelp suddenly swinging a lot higher,the younger two get out the way . You hear Kaku laughing while you clung to the chains of the swing. Sabo laughs at you,your face turned a little red when you found out Lucci was pushing you,god you felt like a child again. When the swing was at is highest you jumped off. You fell on to your ass, and noweveryone was laughing and you could feel your ears heat up. You sat there for a minute blushing like an idiot.

"Here.. " Kaku offers a hand to help you up. You accept it and stand up,brushing yourself off. Everyone was still laughing at you.  
"Sh-shut up already!" You yell,making then laugh harder. You sigh,hut then you start to chuckle,  
"Well I screwed that up..." you laugh.

The boys played with Lucci and Kaku for a few hours, but now it was time to go home. You found out that Kalifa, Lucci, and Kaku all had a user name for the chat you used. You now have three new contacts! While walking home you opened the chat on your phone,you see that only three people were on.

KiraKira joined group.  
KiraKira: Hey guys!  
MrFuzzyHat: Hey (Name).  
Drunk: Hey (Naaaaaaaaaame)~  
Birdy: (Name).  
Birdy: How was the first day with three kids?  
Birdy: bet it was ' fun '  
KiraKira: I can sense the sarcasm from here...and it was alright,went to the park,had lunch,got them enrolled for school...  
Drunk: sounded fun till that last part.  
KiraKira: actually they played on the school playground longer than at the park...we got to meet some guys there who were teachers, they played with the kids.  
MrFuzzyHat: Sounds fun?  
KiraKira: Yeah they just started teaching not long ago so they were pretty young.  
MrFuzzyHat: hmm...  
Drunk: jealous? : )  
MrFuzzyHat: What. No?  
Birdy: then why is that a question?  
KiraKira: I've got to go but when you figure out that any let me know,Lol.  
Drunk: byeeeeee (Naaaaaaaame)~  
Birdy: Bye.  
MrFuzzyHat: Bye..  
KiraKira left group.

You put your phone away and look at the boys,who looked very tried. You smiled at them.

"We'll get dinner then go home, how's that sound? " they look up at you quickly and grin.  
"Food!" They shout.


	10. Trying 10: Bloody problems

It has been a few days now, sense the boys moved in. They still slept in one room, but otherwise seem to be doing just fine in this house. Garp came over again yesterday to make them train, to be great cops one day, or so he claims. You placed two boxes of cereal on the counter next to four bowls and a gallon of milk. The boys were bickering over who gets which cereal. There wasn't much of the sugary fruit puffs left, and all three of them were hell bent on getting the last bowl.

"You had it yesterday, so it's my turn!" Luffy yells, reaching for the box. Ace smacks his hand away from it, scowling at him.  
"All three of us had it yesterday you moron!" He corrects, swatting at Sabo who just tried to grab the box. You laugh at them, they all turn to you glaring and you just laugh nervously.  
"I want it!" Luffy whines, reaching for it. Ace snatches it up, only to lose it to Sabo who takes it from him.  
"Boys..." Your voice falls onto deaf ears, they are pulling the box back and forth. Oh you knew how this would end.  
"Boys..!" You raise your voice slightly, but they still don't hear you. The box starts to rip apart, you take a deep breath.  
"Boys!" You yell and they freeze, a loud rip follows almost instantly afterwards. Followed by the sound of cereal pouring all over the floor. They all groan and you just sigh.

You walk into the hallway and pick up a broom, a dustpan, and you grab the trashcan. Handing the trashcan to Luffy, the Dustpan to Sabo, and the broom to Ace. You point at the mess and they groan again. After some pouting, and arguing, they clean up their mess. While they did this you made frozen waffles, if the cereal is lost, then make waffles! After breakfast they asked if they could go to the park, you said sure. But before you could say anything else they were out the front door. You sigh, now what were you going to do. Pulling out your phone you check the chat.

KiraKira joins group.  
KiraKira: Anyone on?  
Bookworm: I am. How are you today (Name)?  
KiraKira: The boys went to the park, I'm bored... It's quiet when they leave the house.  
Bookworm: I'm at work right now, so I can't help you with that...  
MrFuzzyHat: Good morning. (Name), I'm in class but I have a free period around lunch.  
KiraKira: Hiiiii Laaaw~. And really? Oh wait that's right three times a week your lunch is free right?  
MyFuzzyHat: You keep forgetting?  
KiraKira: No! I just...have more important things to do than remember thou's fucking schedule!  
Bookworm: (Name)..  
KiraKira:...Care to have lunch MrFuzzyHat?  
MrFuzzyHat:...What?...Whatever, sure. That's not my name on chat still is it?  
KiraKira:...BYE GUYS TTYL ROBIN, see yah in an hour or two Law  
Bookworm: lol.  
MrFuzzyHat: (NAME) That's still not my name it is?  
KiraKira left group.

You put your phone to sleep and laugh softly to yourself, how long have you had his name that? Maybe you should change it? But to what? You thought to yourself with a small smile. You had called him that as children, only because back then you called people by their last names, and you couldn't pronounce his. So you did the next best thing, you gave him a nickname, that followed him into adulthood. Aren't you a great friend? You looked at the clock, you had a few hours to kill, so what to do.

~With the Boys~

They had just left the house and were on their way to the park. Luffy picked up a stick and swung it around, singing something about southern islands and pineapples. Sabo laughs at him, while Ace just rolls his eyes.

"What should we do today?" Luffy asks, taking a break from his song. The older two look around, thinking for a moment. What should they do?  
"We should go check on our stash, then probably get some more money?" Sabo hums thoughtfully, Ace nods.  
"Yeah, we should probably move it closer to our new house..." He cuts in. Luffy frowns and looks mildly worried,  
"No one has been guarding the tree, what if someone found it?" He asks, the other two freeze for a moment, looking at each other shocked.  
"He's right..." Sabo starts and Ace scowls.  
"I hate it when he's right..." He growls, starting to run towards the Orphanage.

After an hour of running they make it to the old building and sneak around the side to get to the back. Considering the time of day, the kids were already doing chores. They needed to be careful not to get caught by the older group or the old woman. Sabo went first, darting across the back of the yard, it's good they chose the tree furthest from the house. Ace followed after, both of them waited behind the tree for Luffy. Who stumbled a bit and fell onto his face halfway to the tree.

"Well well well, look who's back boys. The little rubber dipshit!" A boy stopped working and sneered at Luffy, having seen him fall. The other boys in the area stopped and smirked, Ace scowled at them,  
"Shit..." He muttered, Sabo climbs the tree.  
"I'll get the loot, you get Luffy!" He whispers down to Ace who sighs, reaching into a hollow point of the trunk and pulls out a pipe. He smirked, well might as well enjoy this. Luffy sits up rubbing his nose, tears building up, he sniffles.  
"That hurt..."He whines standing up and taking a deep breath, only to be pushed roughly back onto the ground.  
"And where are you going you little shit?" The older boy sneered, most of his teeth seemed to be missing and his face was covered in dirt. He was a fat kid with messy short dark brown hair. Luffy glares up at him and throws a punch at him, the older boy laughs as it bounces off his stomach.  
"Aww, the little baby is crying." He sneers, kicking Luffy in the stomach. He kicks at Luffy's head, but then yelps when a metal pipe smacks him in the forehead. He stumbles backwards holding his head, the other boys pick up the brooms and glare at Ace, who just stands there smirking. Luffy gets up and glares at Ace.  
"I can handle this..!" He pouts and glares when Ace just laughs at him.  
"Right, like you were just a second ago?" He teases, Luffy huffs.  
"S-shut up!" He whines, the fat boy picks up one of the brooms and swings it handle first at Ace, who just moves out of the way.

Luffy throws another punch at him, smacking him in the nose. The older boy yelps again and holds his now bleeding nose, Ace swings at the boy's knees and he collapses on the ground. The other boys ran forwards, swinging at Ace and Luffy. Ace dodges most of them, but then gets smacked on the side of the head by one of the boys. Luffy punches them spastically, using the early stages of a skill he'd use later, gatling. Most of the boys fall to the ground, Ace holds his head, rubbing it and wincing when he touches a now bleeding wound. The boys get up and walk towards them. Ace looks back at the tree.

"Sabo! Any day now!" He calls out backing away, Luffy looks at Ace, who was bleeding quite baddly.  
"Sabo, Ace is bleeding!" He calls out, watching Ace stumble a bit.  
"Okay got it lets go!" Sabo calls out jumping out of the tree with a large bag. Ace and Luffy run around the house, with Sabo close behind. They made it halfway home before they stopped running to catch their breath.  
"T-those assholes..."Luffy gasps, taking deep breaths. Sabo places the bag down and sits on it.  
"At least we got everything..."He gasps, closing his eyes for a second. They both look over at Ace startled when he suddenly collapses.  
"Ace..!?" They both yell running over to him, but he was unresponsive.  
"He's still bleeding!" Luffy gasps, starting to cry.  
"W-we need to get home now, (Name) will help." Sabo says picking Ace up. Luffy grabs the loot and start to run home.


	11. Trying 11: Bad news

You left thirty minutes before twelve. You texted Law and asked were you'd meet up and he said just meet him at his dorm. You started to walk in that direction, humming to yourself. You would go to the park after lunch, and see what the boys were up too. You were halfway to the dorm when you started to feel weird, like something was wrong. You shrugged it off and made your way to the dorm, by the time you got there Law was sitting on a bench outside, once again, reading one of his text books.

"Laaaaw.~" You sang coming up behind him and bringing him into a hug. He tenses and closes his textbook, giving you a light thump on the head with it he frowns at you.  
"Stop that." He says but you just hug him tighter.  
"Awww but MrFuzzyHat..!"You whine and he just sighs, you stop and let go giving him a small smile.  
"Sorry they bring out the child in me..."You laughed and he just glares at you.  
"I can tell, so what do you want to eat?" He says, standing up. You think for a minute and smile at him.  
"We can go down to that shop I know you like." You said, he looks at you for a moment then smiles.  
"They do have good fish.."He mutters, you laugh lightly.  
"Your so easy to please!~" You hum, he just glares at you for a few seconds then turns and starts walking to his car.

You follow after him and run past him, making it to his car first. You stick your tongue out at him and he jingles the keys, making you realize it was still locked. You pout as he takes his sweet 'ole time getting to the car. He smirks at how impatient you are. He opens his side and gets in, pressing the lock buttons to unlock your side. But before you open it he locks it again, you glare at him as his smirk widens. He keeps unlocking and locking it making you angry. When you were about to break open his window he finally lets you in. Once inside and buckled up you cross your arms and huff, avoiding his gaze. He chuckles lightly and starts the car, pulling out and driving out the parking lot. You get a text from Robin.

Robin: Hey, are you two on your date yet?  
You: What? It's not a date! It's just lunch.  
Robin: Riiiight...Zoro says it's a date.  
You: Zoro needs to shush.

The conversation kept going on like this, so getting fed up you turn off your phone. The bad feeling gets worse, you stare out the window, a small frown on your lips. Law glances over at you and see's the worried expression on your face.

"What's wrong, who was it?" He says referring to the phone, you shake your head.  
"It's not the phones fault, it was Robin she was just picking on me..."You sigh, the feeling in your stomach getting worse.  
"Can we stop by the park?" You ask suddenly, he looks at you with a blank expression.  
"Worried about them?" He asks, turning to the right rather than the left he would normally have to take to get to the shop. You nod slowly and sigh.  
"Something feels off..."You admit as he pulls up to the playground. There weren't that many children out, so it didn't take you long to realize they weren't here.  
"Law..." You start to panic slightly, he see's this and frowns.  
"They might have went home, want to go check?" He asks and you nod numbly, the feeling was getting worse. You quickly turned on your phone and realized you had three missed calls from home, taking a deep breath you listen to the messages.

First one-

"(N-name)! Where are you Ace it hurt! He won't wake up and he's bleeding! What do we do, come home!" Came Sabo's frantic voice, you paled and suddenly you felt cold.  
"L-law.." You gasp, clicking the next one. He steps on the gas pedal.

Second one-

"(N-na-name) Please hurry..!" You hear Luffy crying in the background behind Sabo's message. He must have hung up again because the message ends there. You were shaking a little now, what happened? How did he get hurt? How badly was he bleeding?

Last one-

"H-he- H-his- I.." Sabo was panicking, you could hear him sobbing, Luffy was eerily quiet. "He ke- keeps gasping and shaking what do I do!?" He yells into the phone, making you sob. The call ends again and your crying now.

Oh god what happened, what is going on!? You call the house phone but no one picks up, your panicking even more now, you keep calling. Is he alright, did they get someone, did one of them call 911? You were shaking, Law kept telling you to calm down. But how can you, you let them run off alone, what kind of parent are you? Maybe Garp was right, and that thought alone made you start crying even harder.

"P-please, Ace...please be alright.." You choked out in the midst of your sobs.


	12. Trying 12: Brooms with nails

Law didn't even have time to park the car before you jumped out. He watches you as you run up the porch steps and run into the house without even opening the door all the way. You enter the house and look around, bloody paper towels are on the floor. You run around the house, but you can't seem to find them. You run out the house frantic and shake your head to Law, they weren't here anymore. You jump back into the car, you were starting to hyperventilate.

"Hospital now." You gasp, pulling out your phone. You call two numbers, the first one to Garp.  
"(Name)?" You hear him pick up and as soon as he says your name you start to fall apart. You explain the calls they sent you and the fact you can't find them. You hear Garp sigh, he tells you to calm down and check the hospital. He says this isn't the first time they pulled this stunt. But you barely hear the last thing he says while you turn to Law to confirm which hospital they should check, you hang up the phone.  
"The one closest is probably the best place to check first..."He comments, turning left onto a main road. You nod numbly and dial the second number.  
"(Na-" You didn't give him time to confirm it was you before you started talking. You explained everything that happened today and you start to cry again.  
"(Name) calm down...I'm sure they're fine. Keep going with Law to the hospital, if they aren't there call back, I'll go out and look for them." You hear Smoker say calmly, you take a deep breath and sigh.  
"I fucked up..." You sigh again covering your face, you feel someone grab one of your hands and pull it over to them. Looking over at Law he glances at you,  
"Calm down, it's alright..." His voice calms you a bit and you give him a weak smile.  
"He's right, I'm sure they're fine, you didn't fuck up. You only had them for what, a week? or has it even been a week yet? You got them Tuesday, today's Saturday. You just need to relax. Panicking isn't helping." Smoker says, you sigh again and try everything you could to relax.  
"Alright..." You say, you hear Smoker give a quick bye and hang up. You look at Law who didn't let go of your hand, he rubbed circles on your hand with his thumb. It was soothing.  
"Sorry about lunch..." You give a dry laugh and he looks over at you with a small frown.  
"It's okay...there's always tomorrow." He says giving you a small smile. You smile back, he was being unusually kind today. Normally it was hard to get him to smile, and when you cry he doesn't normally comfort you. You let out a small laugh, what's the world coming too?

He pulls into the parking lot of the hospital and you jump out the car again, running up to the emergency room entrance. You get inside and see a long line of people in front of the desk, you stand at the back of the line fidgeting, you couldn't stand this. Law comes in a minute later and see's the line and scowls. He grabs you and walks up the the front desk, you hear people behind you complaining. The woman looks up at the both of you and glares.

"You have to wai-" She starts but gets cut off by Law.  
"We're looking for her kids." He says pointing at you, you nod and take a deep breath.  
"One of them got hurt, we can't find them anywhere. I was hoping that they might be here!" You look at the nurse pleadingly, she frowns at you.  
"How old are they?" She asks staring at you, you flinch under her stare.  
"The older two are ten the youngest is seven..." You say slightly above a whisper, she looks at her computer with a frown on her face.  
"Names?" She ask clicking away at the keys.  
"The one that got hurt is Ace, Portgas D. Ace..." You say quickly, fidgeting with your fingers again.  
"His brothers, if they brought him here, would be Sabo and Luffy.." You continue, she types a few more things and writes something down on a sticker and hands it to you.  
"He's in surgery, but the other two are in the waiting in his room, when he's done he will be moved there, they are on the third floor, room 308." She says, you pale and nearly collapse. She looks at you startled while Law picks you up.  
"I need a wheelchair over here!" The nurse calls out, someone runs in and places you in a wheelchair. You cover your face with your hands starting to cry, the people in the line behind you get very quiet. Law takes the chair wordlessly and pushes you over to the elevators. He presses the button for the elevator to come down and starts to rub your shoulders.  
"Relax." He whispers, you shudder and sob harder.  
"W-what the hell happened...!?" You hiss. The elevator doors open and he pushes you on and presses the three button.  
"That's what we're going to find out..." He answers back calmly. You pull out your phone and shakily get on chat.

KiraKira joins group.  
Drunk: (Name) What happened.  
KiraKira: He's at the hospital, he's in surgery.  
Bookworm: Oh my god. (Name) are you okay?  
KiraKira: No.  
Drunk: Relax, I'm sure he'll be fine!

Before you could respond the elevator dings, you put the phone to sleep. It dings softly every time someone on chat says something, the sound is almost soothing. Law pushes you down the hall, you take a deep breath and rub your eyes. You probably looked like crap, and well you felt like it too. Law pushes you into the room and before you can get a good look around you get tackled.

"(Name)!" The two boys scream, jumping onto your lap. They cling to you crying and you just hug them. Law stands back a bit, looking around awkwardly.  
"What happened..?" You asked after a few minutes of hugging, they look up at you, tears still pouring out their eyes.  
"W-we..." Sabo and Luffy start, they explain everything that happened and then they explained that the doctors noticed Ace had a hole on the side of his head, so Sabo concluded that the boy who hit Ace had a nail sticking off the handle of the broom. You wanted to scold them for not asking you to take them to get their loot, but the look on their faces made you loose any shred of anger you had. Wordlessly you just hug them again and they start to cry.

"So now we wait..." You whisper looking up at the clock on the wall.


	13. Trying 13: Good news and Worse news

It wasn't until later that evening when a doctor visited the room did you get news on Ace, the younger two were on Ace's vacant bed asleep. You were sitting on a chair next to the bed, leaning on Law who was the only one awake when the doctor entered. He gently nudges you, making you jolt awake. You looked at him half asleep and he points at the doctor, you look over and immediately sit up. He looks over at you and sighs.

"Ms. Lacent." He starts, the knot in your stomach tightens when he pauses.  
"It was a difficult surgery, the nail did some damage to the back of his head, it did penetrate the skull." He continues, you feel Law tense beside you. You now understood that this was a very bad thing, taking a deep breath, you wait for him to finish.  
"But..." He says giving you a small smile, you felt all the tension leave your body at his smile.  
"He's young, and because of this fact. He should recover, and be just fine." As soon as the doctor says this you grin at Law, who had a smile on his face.  
"He'll be okay then...?" You whisper, earning a nod from the doctor.  
"We'll be bringing him up shortly." He says, nodding goodbye to us, he leaves the room. You hug Law and start crying again, but this time out of happiness.  
"Oh my god oh my...!" You squeal, waking the other two. They look at you sleepily, they see you smiling and crying and start to freak out.  
"W-what happened..!?" A sleepy Sabo asked, staring at you shocked.  
"The doctor said he'll be alright!" You grin, the two boys look at each other and smile widely.  
"Yaaaay!" Luffy yells, jumping up and down on the bed, you start laughing and grab him. Sabo jumps up too so you reach out and grab him too, bring them into a hug. Law just leans back, covering his eyes with one hand, and sighs. All the tension leaves the room.

You get the two boys off the bed just as nurses walk in, they clean up the space, preparing it for Ace. Law offers to take the boys downstairs for some food and you smile at him, you nod and shoo the boys off. So they would be out of the way while they brought Ace in. They brought him in a few minutes after the other two left, he looked so tiny on such a huge bed. He looked pale, and even more so covered with bandages. It seems he received some injuries to his arms and legs, seeing that they were covered in white bandages. His black hair stuck out from underneath the bandages on his head, his freckles stood out more than normal against his unnaturally paled skin. He was breathing smoothly, asleep from the sedatives given to him before the surgery. A smile graces your lips while you brush some of his hair out of his face, it took everything you had not to cry again.

"I'm so glad your okay..." You whisper, kissing his forehead lightly. Your only response was the sounds of the nurses leaving, and the beeping from the heart monitor. You pull up a chair close to the bed and look down at him.  
"You scared the hell out of us..." You sigh at the steady beeping from the monitor. You reach over and grab his hand, it looked so tiny compared to yours.  
"You scared the hell out of me the most, probably..." You whisper, brushing his hand with your thumb. Your phone dings again, you grab it with your free hand, remembering you didn't sign out you looked at the messages being displayed on the screen.

Bookworm: Yea I'm sure it will be fine!  
Drunk: Kids heal quickly so...  
Bookworm: Yeah...  
Bookworm: (Name)?  
Drunk: Did something happen?  
Drunk: ?  
Drunk: Where did you go?  
Bookworm: (Name)?  
Drunk: She must have gone into the hospital.  
Bookworm: Yeah probably...  
Smokey: So he's there then?  
Drunk: Yeah.  
Bookworm: Yes, in surgery.  
Smokey: That's good, that he's there i mean.  
Smokey: Not that he's in surgery...  
Bookworm: I hope everything is okay...  
Drunk: I do too.

You read the chat a bit more, the conversation changes to calling out for you. You skip to the bottom and reply.

KiraKira: He's out of surgery now, doctor said he'd be okay!  
Drunk: Oh thank god.  
Birdy: That's good...  
Drunk: Where the hell have you been Mihawk!?  
Birdy: Reading the chat, (Name) What happened?  
Bookworm: Yeah, what happened?  
Drunk: ?  
KiraKira: They were trying to get stuff from the orphanage, things they left.  
KiraKira: But the older boys attacked them, using brooms.  
KiraKira: But one of the boys had nails at the end of his broomstick so when he hit Ace, it stabbed the back of his head.  
Smokey: Damn, think they can point out which kids did it?  
KiraKira: I think so, they seemed to have known them...  
Drunk: Little shits...  
Birdy: ...  
Bookworm: That's terrible...  
KiraKira: I'm just glad he's alright...  
Bookworm: Yeah!  
Birdy: That is good.  
Drunk: Still though those brats...who puts nails on a broom!?  
KiraKira: Says a Mafioso  
Smokey: (Name)...  
KiraKira: I'm gonna go, see yah.  
Smokey: Bye.  
Drunk: Is Law there? He hasn't commented.  
KiraKira: Yeah he's still here, he took the other two downstairs while the nurses brought Ace in. Speaking of which they're back! Bye!  
KiraKira left group.

You put the phone to sleep just as the two boys walk in holding a bunch of bags of food. Law walks in behind them and gives you a look, you smile at him sheepishly.

"Ace!" They yell, but you immediately shush them. They both shut their mouths and look at you.  
"He's resting, don't yell." You scold softly, they nod slowly and hand you two bags of food.  
"This is for Ace when he wakes up!" Luffy grins.  
"And this one..!" Sabo says handing you a third bag.  
"Is for you!" He finishes with a big grin, you smile at them and pat the top of their heads.  
"Thank you.." You laugh lightly. A nurse walks in and frowns at all the food the boys brought in. She looks at you and gives you a polite smile.  
"I'm here to discuss young Portgas's release..." She starts, standing next to Ace's bed.  
"I'm afraid we can't release him to you, when he is better. Also in regards to those too...I'm afraid that applies to them as well." She says, her expression turning serious. You gape at her then glare.  
"And why not?" You ask. She clears her throat as some men in suits walk in.  
"You seem incapable of taking care of children, seeing as this one got severely injured. We will be conducting an investigation, to see if...you are not putting these children in danger." She speaks calmly, but you just get angrier.  
"Are you saying I did this...!?" You gasp, you can see Law glaring at the men and the nurse. Her gaze narrows at you, a small smirk on her lips.  
"Maybe." She remarks as the men move forward. Law steps between them and the kids, the woman looks at him.  
"You don't have any rights to do this..." He starts, but she just smiles and looks over at Sabo.

"Well his parents...said otherwise."


	14. Trying 14: He's awake!

It wasn't even an hour after the boys left, that they got brought back. You hug them tightly while they cling onto you. You look up at Smoker and Garp and give them a huge smile.

"Thank you!" You told them, they both sigh.  
"They'll be back, and they'll make life for you, hell." Smoker said looking over at Sabo, who had a guilty expression on his face. You hug him again.  
"It's okay.." You told him, he just looks away sadly.  
"This isn't the first time they've done this, though this is the nicest way they've done it..." Garp sighs, you look up at him confused. He looks at Sabo, who is looking over at Ace, who was still asleep.  
"They have been in multiple homes, but they keep managing to get Sabo kicked out...They make life for the people who adopt them hell.." You frown.  
"If they don't want people to adopt him, why give him up?" You ask, Sabo flinches and moves away from you. You look at him and he just gives you a sad look. It makes you want to go find these people and beat their faces in. Garp continues,  
"They left him at the orphanage for a year, and according to the laws in this town, this makes him eligible to be adopted, because it means he's been abandoned..." He finishes, Sabo walks away and sits next to Ace, Luffy follows after him. You were silent for a minute, but you stand up and walk over to the other side of the bed, opposite of Sabo and Luffy.  
"Let them do what they want, these three aren't going anywhere." You say grabbing Ace's hand again. Once more there was no response, but the sound of his breathing and the heart monitor.

You guys spend the night in the hospital, the two boys sit on two chairs putting their head down on the bed. You looked over at them smiling, it was now three in the morning. But you were anxious to sleep, worried someone else may come in and try to take them away. Law had left, he was reluctant to go, but you made him, telling him you would be alright. You reminded him he had school to focus on, he gives you a concerned look but then returns to his neutral expression. He gives you a slight hug and leaves, that was four hours ago. You were starting to nod off when someone started to whine softly, opening your eyes you see Ace was awake, and trying to sit up.

"W-wait, you can't get up..!" You whisper to him pushing him back down, he looks at you with wide eyes and opens his mouth to say something, but it comes out in a sort of gibberish. He starts to panic when he realizes he is having a problem talking, he starts to wiggle around, tears forming in his eyes. You pat the top of his head and whisper to him, trying to get him to calm down. Eventually he does and looks at you, tears running down his cheeks.

"It's okay sweetie, they fixed your head, but a slight side effect is that for the next week or so it will be hard for you to speak properly.."You explained, his eyes widened and he looked so pitiful, so you kissed his forehead. He pushed you away glaring at you, a slight blush on his cheeks. You giggle at him.  
"There you are, my little Tsuntsun..." You whisper, he glares at you then huffs and looks away. If he can't speak without sounding weird, he is just going to refuse to speak at all.

You give him a sad smile and pat his head again, brushing his hair back with your fingers. He looks up at you sleepily and yawns. You just smile and keep brushing his hair until he falls back to sleep. You keep brushing his hair back for a little longer until you yawn. You cross your arms on the bed and lay your head down, you needed some sleep.

You wake up to the sounds of children talking excitedly to each other, raising your head the talking stops. You open your eyes and see Ace,Sabo, and Luffy staring at you. You stare back, a little confused, then you smiled.

"Good morning boys!" You said happily, Luffy and Sabo grin at you.  
"Good morning!" They said in unison. Ace opens his mouth to say something, but gibberish comes out again, he looks at you sadly before closing his mouth and turning away. You give him small smile.  
"It's okay Ace! It will come back..." You said brushing his hair out of his face, he pushes you away glaring at you. You could almost hear him say 'Stop that!', you giggled softly. He pouts and crosses his arms, Sabo snickers at him.  
"I don't know why your laughing, because Ace can't talk, he doesn't have to start school next week until it comes back..!" You teased Sabo, who pouted at you. Luffy pouts too.  
"You mean he gets to stay home..!" He whines, Ace smirks.  
"Yep! He can't participate in class if he is talking like that, plus I don't want kids to pick on him because of it..." You sigh, Ace glares at you and you raise your hands up defensively.  
"Not because it would hurt your feelings...I'm afraid you'll kill them all you tiny fireball!" You said pointing at him, he smirks again. You roll your eyes at his smugness and look over at Sabo.  
"Although...I'm waiting for you to do something...I haven't even seen you light up yet!" You say,staring at Sabo, who just looks away whistling.  
"And to think you start school tomorrow..."You sigh, Luffy and Sabo pout at you again.

Next week is going to be interesting...


	15. Trying 15: Whitebeard

It took everything you had to take the younger two home, they wouldn't stop clinging to Ace, who was looking at me with an expression that said, 'Don't make them leave me..' And it hurt you. You ushered the two boys out of the room and gave Ace a hug, he clings to the front of your shirt, looking up at you. You pat his head lightly.

"I'll be back in the morning I promise, I just have to get them ready for school, but then I'll come straight here." You kept repeating, he looks at the sheets with a pitiful look on his face.  
"I promise, alright..?" You said holding up your pinky, he glares at you. He opens his mouth to say something but only gibberish comes out, he closes it looking frustrated. He just sighs and hooks his pinky with yours. You give him one more hug before standing up and walking out the room. You could feel him staring at you as you left.

You walked into the hallway only to be greeted with two angry boys. They glared up at you, you give them a small smile and lead them outside. They were quiet all the way home, their silence bothered you but, they have to go to school. You sighed, dragging your feet. You wanted to go back, you wanted to wait until Ace could come home, but you had to take care of these two.

"So.." You start, turning to look at them, still walking backwards.  
"What do you want for dinner?" You ask, trying to get them to talk. They don't even look up at you, they just walk on silently. Not even food would make them stop worrying about Ace. You sigh, tomorrow was not going to be fun, you thought as you reach the house.

The next morning you realized you were right. The fought with you over everything, their clothes, their breakfast, their book bags, literally anything. By the time you got them to the bus stop you were exhausted, you look at the two grumpy boys who were whispering to each other. They didn't say a word to you, they didn't even look at you when you told them bye. You looked at the ground sadly as the bus left, well now it's time to go see the oldest.

You made your way down the street, looking like you were having the worst day of your life. You look so downcast that people passing you looked at you worried. You wordlessly made your way into the hospital and up to the front desk, the nurse recognizes you and hands you a sticker. You made your way over to the elevators, sighing. The elevator opens just as someone steps up beside you, they walk into the elevator with you.

"You made the wrong people angry, Ms Lacent." They said, you look over and see a talk man in a dark suit, just as the elevator closes you see a few more outside, they smirk at you. You pull out your phone and dial Law's number, nor bothering to bring it up to your ear, you just leave it at your side. You hear him pick up and you quickly respond to the man next to you.  
"I have a habit with making the wrong people angry..." You give a tense laugh. The man chuckles next to you and you can hear Law go silent.  
"Are you hear to warn me or threaten me?" You ask, staring intently at the elevator doors. You feel the man shove you and pin you to the elevator wall, he smirks as you wince when your elbow slams against the metal wall.  
"I'm just making sure you got the message, Lacent." He says, pushing you harder against the wall.  
"O-ow..."You gasp in pain, nearly dropping the phone you had hidden at your side. The man pulls away just as the elevator doors open, you push away from the wall and into the hallway, walking quickly to Ace's room. Once you were far enough you put the phone to your ear.  
"Please tell me you heard that." You gasp, holding your elbow.

"Are you okay?" He asks sternly, you give a weak yes as a reply and you can hear him sigh.  
"Where are you?" He asks, his voice remaining cold.  
"Hospital, with Ace." You respond, hanging up right before you enter the boy's room. Ace looks up at you surprised, but then he gives you a huge smile. Just seeing him made the corners of your lips perk up.  
"Hey Ace..." You said walking over to the chair next to his bed, He holds up a coloring book and shows you a picture he was coloring. It was of a pirate, you giggle and pick it up.

"Where did you get this?" You ask and he opens his mouth to say it but then he closes it.  
"A Nurse?" You ask and he shakes his head, tilting your head to the side.  
"Did Garp ?" He makes a face and shakes his head again. You ponder it thoughtfully, Ace points behind you. You turn and see a tall man with a white mustache enter the room. You gape at him then look at Ace.

"Him?" You ask and he nods his head, you turn around to face the old man again.  
"H-hello." You greet, he looks down at you.  
"Who are you?" He grunts, and you nearly jump out of your chair, you wish y0u sat on the other side of Ace now. You open your mouth to say something but you feel your lips tremble, you quickly shut your mouth. You look at Ace who just smirks at your reaction, you pout at him.

Clearing your throat you try again,  
"I am (Name) Lacent." You started, giving the old man a big smile.  
"I adopted this crazy kid, along with his two brothers." You finished, the man raises an eye brow at you before turning to Ace who nods. It was silent for a minute, you looked at Ace, who just watches you, smirking at how freaked out you looked. The silence was deafening, you felt like you were being strangled, not literally, but it was bad.

"So uh...Hi..." You greet again, giving a nervous grin. He sits on the two person couch like it was a chair, which was sitting at the foot of Ace's bed.  
"I think I heard your name before from a red headed brat I know." He starts, looking over at you. You think about all the red heads you know and frown, realizing you only know one.  
"Shanks." You said, he nods.  
"If you know anything about the Mafia, or unless you live under a rock, you've heard of Whitebeard." He finishes, you freeze, staring at him.

'Ahhhhh Fuuuuuuuuuuuck...' You moan internally.


	16. Trying 16: -ya

You were completely silent, you were so nervous you almost stop breathing. Ace snickers at your reaction, you glare at him but he just smirks at you. You look over at the old man again, taking a deep breath you begin to speak.

"So..." You start, keeping your voice calm. He looks over to you, Ace just keeps snickering at you.  
"How do you know Ace?" You ask, a little curious as to why he knows Ace. He stares at you, and you try your best not to look away. Damn this guy was intimidating.  
"I knew his father." He says bluntly. Ace frowns at this and waits for your reaction. You didn't think it was something so simple but, oh well.  
"Oh, okay." You deadpan, Ace's jaw drops.  
'That's it!?' His expression said, you smirked at him.  
"If that's it, that's it." You shrug. The old man laughs.  
"Your an odd one..." He says, Ace nods in agreement.

You huff at Ace just as the door to the room opens, Law walks in. He see's Whitebeard and freezes, his gaze narrowing.

"Trafalgar." The old man says in a monotone. Law looks to you and you give him a weak smile, he walks over to you.  
"Where did you get hurt." Is all he says, Ace looks at you surprised. You glare at Law.  
"My left arm, but its fine. Just a little bruised." You shrug, but you gasp when Law picks it up. Ace watches your reaction and looks at you with a worried expression. He grabs your right hand and shakes it, he wants to know what happened. You look away from him and sigh.  
"I tripped." You lied, Ace stares at you, and shook your arm again.

"Don't lie to the boy." Whitebeard says, staring at the three of you. You sigh again.  
"Sabo's parents, had someone come and threaten me on the way up here." You confess as Law tends to your arm. You flinch every time he moves it.  
"He twisted your arm..." He comments, you nod.  
"And slammed me against the inner walls of the elevator." You said as he gets up. You can see Ace tense from the corner of your eye.  
"I'll go get some supplies for this, it will need to be in a sling for awhile." He says while walking out of the room. It was quiet, looking up at Ace he gives you a sad look. You smile at him.

"It's alright...Could have been worse!" You laugh, patting him on the head, he moves away from you pouting slightly.  
'Don't do that!' his expression says, you giggle.  
"But your hairs so fluffy!" You said patting him again, he wiggles away from you. You move forward to much and your left arm falls off the table.  
"O-oww..!" You gasp while grabbing it. Ace looks at you concerned. You flash him a smile and move your arm carefully, placing it back on the table.

"That was quick, they normally wait a bit before they start attacking the parents..." Whitebeard mutters to himself, you hear him and look over.  
"So I've heard..." You sigh.  
"But if they keep this up I'll have to get violent. And honestly I just want to put those days behind me..." You sigh, Whitebeard raises a brow.  
"You use to be..." He starts.  
"I use to be in the Mafia, Shanks group to be more specific...ah...although if I join again I'd probably join Law's he just made his group a year and a half ago..." You sigh, remembering all the crazy things that has happened. You finish saying that just as Law walks in, he smirks at you.  
"You'd join me..?" He muses, his smirk growing when your face turns red.  
"You weren't suppose to hear that..." You hiss, He just chuckles and picks up your arm, you cringe again.

"Hm..." The old man hums to himself, only one person has quit the mafia in the last few years in Shanks crew.  
"Ninetails..." He says after a slight pause. You tense and glare at him, Law freezes as well, his turning his gaze over to the man. Ace looks at him confused.  
'What's that?' His expression seemed to say.  
"Ninetailed Fox. A girl in Shanks group. She quit about two years ago after an accident." He muses, Ace looks at you. You keep glaring at the old man, hoping he'd shut up. He glares back at you, but your expression doesn't waver.  
"It's just (Name) now." You reply coldly, Law glances at you.  
"(Name).."He says, warning you to shut up. Ace tenses at the tone of your voice.

Suddenly the old man sits back and laughs.  
"Just (Name) now huh?" He echos while looking over at Ace.  
"An ex-mafioso adopts three boys, troublesome ones at that." He laughs. Ace pouts at him and crosses his arms.  
'I'm not troublesome!' His expression said. You giggle at him and pat his head, he pushes you away again, glaring at you now.  
"It's not their fault..." You sigh, looking back at Whitebeard.  
"It's those assholes who are threatening me's fault!" You felt angry, ever sense they tried to take the boys everyone on chat had been telling you about the awful things they've done. He frowns at your outburst, which left Ace looking at you startled.

"Yes it is.." He agrees, standing up. He looks at Ace and grins at him.  
"I'll visit you again, boy. I have to go." He says while turning to leave. Ace pouts as he watches the old man leave the room. After a few minutes you sigh, Law looks at you.  
"I hope you didn't know who you were talking to." He says seriously. You give him a weak smile.  
"I did..." You laugh nervously as Law just sighs and rubs the side of his head.  
"You idiot. (Name)-ya, what makes you think it is a good idea to yell at him!?" He says, letting his old habit slip up. Now you know he's pissed at you. You look to Ace with a small pout.  
"Aaaaace save meeeee, Laws angry~" You whine to the injured boy. He gives you a weird look before sighing then turning towards Law with a glare. Law smacks you upside the head.  
"I'm being serious (Name)-ya!" He says, you giggle at his little habit. He stares at you, confused.

"I actually miss you going -ya at the end of my name, it's cute." You said smiling at him. He looks stunned for a moment before looking away from you, Ace snickers at him.  
"S-shut up (Name).." He says, you pout at him. You really did like when he said your name like that, but he's tried hard to drop that habit.  
"I really do like it!~" You whine, scooting your chair closer to his. He looks at you surprised when you put your face in front of his. He stares at you then smirks.  
"Then beg." He says, his smirk widening when your jaw drops. You hear Ace huff, you turn and see him glaring at Law. You giggle and move back over to Ace.

"Can I color a picture with you?" You ask, he looks at you and grins. He hands you the crayons and opens his coloring book. He picks a picture of a jungle. It has a tiger and some birds and lots of plants. You grab a blue crayon and color one of the birds while Ace grabs a orange one and colors the tiger. Law watches you try to color with your none dominate hand. He smirks when you get irritated at the fact you were having an issue staying in the lines. He moves over to you and positions himself behind you, grabbing your hand he helps you color. Your face turns red.

"What are you doing?" You ask him, he just chuckles and finishes the bird.  
"Just helping." He hums, he looks over at Ace who was glaring daggers at him. You notice and giggle. Law chuckles and backs away from you.  
"I have to go, but be careful, okay?" He says, looking at your arm. You nod, he turns to Ace.  
"Keep an eye on her, she can be a bit of a clumsy idiot." He says, smirking as you glare at him. Ace grins up at Law and nods.  
'Okay!' His expression says.  
"I'll talk to you later...(Name)..-ya.." He says looking away from you as he says your name. You smile at him as he leaves.

"Okay." You said, turning back to Ace. He looks over at you and you grin, picking up a yellow crayon.  
"Back to coloring!" You cheer, Ace grins and picks up his orange crayon and continues on the tiger.


	17. Trying 17: I wanted to forget

You didn't want to leave the boy in the hospital again, not after this morning. You gingerly touch your left arm and sigh, waiting for the elevator. You had to go to the bus stop and pick up the other two, but that meant leaving Ace alone, you wanted to call someone to pick up the boys but it was their first day, and you wanted to be there for them.

The elevator dings and opens, you step inside. You felt nervous about being in the metal box after what happened, but you clench your jaw and keep your eyes forward. At least no one was in here with you this time. You make it to the ground floor without any further incidents. You step out and make your way to the lobby, you see the group of men from this morning and freeze. You walk slowly out of the building, praying they don't see you. You see a few people leaving as well so you hide behind them, trying to blend in.

You make it outside and sigh. Safe, for now. But now Ace was alone in the building with those people, you pull out your phone and text Shanks. You explain what happened this morning and the fact they were still down stairs, and the fact you had to leave Ace alone so you can pick up the boys. You get a quick text back saying he'd pick them up, Don't Leave Ace. You sigh, it was no use fighting with him, and turn around to go back in but the men were at the door.

"Move." You said, trying to walk past them but they just stand in your way.  
"We have orders to keep you outsi-" He starts, but turns pale when he see's your eyes.  
"Get. The ever loving Fuck. Out of my way." You hiss, you were aware you were using your fruit, and you hated it. But you didn't have time for their bullshit. The man stumbles back and lands on his ass, you walk over him and back to the elevator. You could feel them standing behind you, surrounding you. You don't turn, you keep your gaze on the screen above the elevator, it was on floor 4.

"Listen bitch." One of the men walk towards you, grabbing your injured arm. You don't even look at him, your eye twitching was the only sign that it hurt when he grabbed your arm. It was on 3 now.  
"I said listen to me bitch!" He yells yanking your arm, you can hear a gasp from the nurse at the front desk, she gives you a terrified look. One of the men see's this and walks up to her.  
"You see nothin' alright?" He says, pulling out a knife. Your gaze leaves the screen when you see the glint of the knife in the corner of your eyes.

"Leave her alone." You said smoothly, falling back into step with the you, you tried to forget. A powerful aura surrounds you, so much that the man holding your arm stumbles back surprised. You activate your fruit, your shadow grows nine tendrils and makes their was over to the man with the knife, he doesn't notice. He couldn't stop staring at your eyes, they were blue like the sky but with an unearthly glow and your pupils were slits. He screams and drops the knife, running for his life. The rest of them back up and press themselves to the wall. The elevator dings, the aura disappears, your eyes go back to normal, and the tendrils vanish.

You step into the elevator, turning around and smirking at the men just as the door closes. You did miss this feeling, you shake your head.  
'No! You can't do that anymore!' You scold yourself as the elevator climbs up. You argue with yourself, trying to get rid of the pleasure you feel when you used the power. You kept this argument up until the doors slid open. Walking back into the hall you make your way back to Ace. Your heart was in your throat, this power was bad, but it was apart of you. Shanks told you ignoring it was impossible, eventually you would use it again. And he was right.

You enter Ace's room, he looks up at you and gives you a wide grin, all your worries melt away when you see him. You give him a small smile and walk back to your seat.  
"Shanks is picking them up, so I can stay with you." You explained, he just grins and gives you the green crayon.  
'Let's keep coloring!' You could almost hear him say, you lean over the bed and back to the jungle you both had been coloring before you left. It was almost done, aside from the vegetation in the picture. He had the lime green crayon and was coloring along side you.

Just as the both of you finish the picture two boys run into the room. They freeze when they see you, at first they looked angry, but then they saw your arm and immediately they looked upset.  
"(Name) what happened to your arm!?" Luffy yells, running over to you and grabs your arm.  
"Oww...!" You said, grabbing his hand and pulling it away from your sore arm. He immediately starts to tear up.  
"I'm sorry..!" He cries and you panic, you didn't think he'd freak out this badly. Sabo walks up to you and touches your arm carefully.  
"What happened?" He asks, you look at Ace and then back at them.

"I tripped..." You laugh nervously, Ace glares at you and Sabo see's this and glares at you.  
"Liar." He accuses. You frown at him, if you tell him...  
"Someone attacked me. But it's okay!" You said giving him a big smile, Luffy gets angry.  
"Who hurt you, I'll beat them up!" He huffs, Sabo stares at you.

"Did my parents..." He asks slowly, you frown and shake your head.  
"Don't worry about it! I can handle this." You said with a huge grin. He looks away from you and walks to the other side of Ace. You watched him, wishing Ace would have let you lie to him. Now you were sure he blamed himself. Sighing you pat Luffy on the head, who was still threatening to beat them up. Shanks walks in a minute later and looks over at you, he see's your arm and frowns.  
"You didn't mention getting hurt." He comments and you shrug.  
"I didn't mention a lot of things actually." You admitted. He glares at you.  
"Explain." He says while you just sigh.

"Law came here, he's the one who fixed up my arm. And uh..." You pause, unsure if you should mention Whitebeard. You look at Ace, who was watching you. You sigh, he won't let you lie will he?  
"Whitebeard was here too...Visiting Ace." You said finally, Shanks doesn't look surprised. But he does narrow his gaze at you.  
"Did you say something stupid?" He asks, you glare at him.

"No..!" You said, Ace narrows his gaze at you. You sigh.  
"Maybe..?" You fidget with the sling. Shanks sighs and sits in the couch that Whitebeard was on earlier that day.  
"Woman..."He sighs, you glare at him.  
"I might have yelled...glared...probably." You sigh again, you hear him laugh lightly.  
"Two years and you haven't changed your attitude..." He laughs a little louder, Luffy walks over to him and climbs on his lap.

"You knew her two years ago?" Luffy asks, Ace smirks. You look at him and you can almost see his smugness radiate off of him.  
'I know something he doesn't know.~' You could almost hear him gloat. You frown at him.  
"She use to be in my group." Shanks says bluntly, you look over at him quickly, you glare at him.  
"Oi, Shanks." You start but his gaze shuts you up.

"They'll find out about it eventually, you were pretty popular a few years ago." He says nonchalantly. Sabo looks over at him, curious about you too.  
"She was in the Mafia. My group specifically." He starts, Luffy gasps and looks at you amazed. Sabo looks mildly surprised.  
"She's a fruit user, Zoan type." He continues, Luffy nods.  
"Garp said something about that." Sabo said, before tilting his head a bit, looking like he was deep in thought.  
"But he didn't say what she turned into." He finishes, you tense a bit.

"A Ninetailed Fox. A Mythological creature. A extremely rare devil fruit, and she ate it." He says, sounding like he was almost bored of the conversation. But Luffy looks at you even more amazed. Sabo looks at you almost equally amazed.  
"Really!?" They ask in unison, you nod slowly.  
"She hates her power." Shanks cuts in, this makes both boys stop and look back over at him.  
"Why...?" Sabo asks, Shanks opens his mouth to answer.

"STOP!" You scream, you didn't want him to tell them about that, anything but that. You were close to tears now, all of them turn to you looking shocked. Shanks closes his mouth, but he stares at you. You start to cry, covering you face with your right hand. You feel someone hug you, opening your eyes and moving your hand you see that all three boys had hugged you. You wrapped your arm around them.

"Thanks..." You said after a few minutes, you looked over at Shanks, who hadn't moved. He was still staring at you, his expression was unreadable.  
"Sorry...for screaming." You said, bowing your head a bit. He sighs and sits up.  
"Don't do that again." He says. The boys let you go and look up at you. You give them a small smile and pat their heads, Ace moves away from you again and you giggle.  
"You will hug me, but you wont let me pat your head..." You laugh, Luffy and Sabo snicker at Ace when his cheeks turn red. He glares at you, his expression said to shut up. You laughed harder and decide to stop picking on him, for now. You hear Shanks sigh.

"You need to accept it happened..." Shanks says while standing up. You glance at him, tensing again. He says nothing else and leaves the room, Luffy chases after him. You look at the floor, you can feel the other two looking at you.  
"What happened?" Sabo asks, you look up and meet his gaze. It took you a few minutes but eventually you opened you mouth and with your voice hardly above a whisper you confessed to something you were trying so hard to forget.

"I killed my brother..."


	18. Trying 18: The Ninth Tail

.:Two Years Earlier, July 12th:.

Your eyes were closed and your headphones were on, your favorite music blaring at almost top volume, blocking out the world. You could feel someone come up beside you. You were laying on the rooftop of the Red Hair Mafia's hideout, you yawned and opened your eyes, looking right into the mirror image of yours.

"Cole." You greet him while he smirks down at you. He was a boy, only eighteen, with the same face as yours. His hair was messier than usual today. You reach up and fix some of his hair, he pushes you away and glares.  
"(Name), get up I got something cool to show you!" He grins and grabs your arms, pulling you up. You glare at your twin and huff.  
"I was take a nap. Nii-san." You said the last part in a mocking tone. He frowns, pouting slightly.  
"Come ooooon. It'll be cool I promise!" He grins again, pulling you with him.

He drags you off the room, both of you land on the ground unharmed. You look around and see Shanks standing a few feet away, he grins at you.  
"Hey (Name)! Look look!" He says patting a large box next to him. You look at it suspiciously before turning to your brother.  
"What is it?" You ask, ignoring your boss. Shanks gives you a slight pout before coming over and throwing an arm around your shoulder.  
"Come on I'll show you!" He grins, pulling you away before Cole can speak.

He pushes you over to the box and does a sort of Ta-da! thing with his arms. You stare at it, it looked like a giant wooden box.  
"Okay...it's a box." You deadpan, both your boss and your brother sweatdrop.  
"Yes, yes it is a box. But you need to open it (Name)!" Shanks says, urging you to open it. You turn to your brother, who is grinning ear-to-ear. You turn back to the box and place a hand on the lid and push it. It slides off onto the ground next to it and you gasp. In the box was a baby white tiger, you gape at it confused.

"Cora sent it! For you, for our birthday today!" Cole says grinning, you look at him surprised.  
"Cora did...?" You gasp, looking down at the animal, it looks up and yawns. You reach down and pat the top of it's head.  
"It's so cute...~" You whispered softly, both Cole and Shanks grin at you.  
"Told you she'd like him." Shanks said, Cole turns to him and glares.  
"You said she'd hate it!" Cole yells, Shanks sweatdrops and tells the boy to shut up.

You rolled your eyes at them then turn back to the cat. You pet behind it's ears and it licks your wrist.  
"Your a boy huh..?" You whisper, smiling down at him. You pick him up, it was a bit larger than a house cat, and you knew it would only get bigger. You grinned and snuggled it.  
"I'll name you...!" You start, tilting your head to the side in thought. The color of it's fur reminds you of a certain someone's hat, and not to mention that same certain someone's guardian is the one that sent you the tiger.  
"Truffle..!" You decide, both of the guys behind you stare at you.

"Truffle!?" They gape at you. You giggle at them and nod.  
"Yes, Truffle! I bet that would please Law." You giggled while your brother rolls his eyes.  
"Augh, that guy..." He sighs and crosses his arms. Shanks laughs and walks over and pets the large kitten.  
"Hello there Truffle." He chuckles when the cat licks his hand.  
"Alright, time to get inside. Time for cake...!" Shanks cheers, running into the building. Your brother sighs.  
"You'd think it was his birthday today..." He grumbles while you laugh.  
"I dunno, I think it's kinda cute." You say walking in, your brother stares at you.  
"Oh god, please don't hook up with the boss, please!" He yells while chasing after you.

.:Three days Later:.

You watched as your brother changed forms, like you he ate a zoan type fruit. But he only changes into a black panther rather than some mystical beast. You were nervous, because once he was done it was your turn to train. You had managed to unlock the Ninth tail's ability last week, but something felt off about it, and you were worried.

Your fruit was special, but it was very dangerous for you to use. Each tail of the Ninetailed fox had a special ability, but using more than one ability used up a lot of energy. And no matter how much you trained your body, you could never use two abilities at the same time, it was almost suicide.

One time you fought an enemy and wiped them all out, but because you used three tail abilities in one fight, it knocked you out for almost three weeks. After that Shanks said I needed to be more careful when using my abilities. The higher the tail, the more energy it uses. And you could now use the last one.

You were worried because something about the last one felt evil. You knew Ninetails were evil creatures. The legend that came with your fruit is that the fox you turn into, was born from darkness. And from it comes the darkest flame, the coldest flame. Which was odd because your flames were hot. Your flame was purple and faded into blue on the tips, they were extremely hot flames. So that didn't match what the legend says at all, until last week.

You were by yourself, which you weren't suppose to do, because using your powers to much can make you faint. They didn't want you to hurt yourself because you ran off and trained alone somewhere and then pass out like some moron.

You were pushing yourself hard that day, wanting so badly to see what the last tail could do. But then something inside you snapped, it felt wrong and sick. Your shadow started to shake and nine tendrils came out, your shadow lifted itself up and covered you, you felt cold. Like you were thrown into the snow after sitting in a really warm room. It hurt to breath, the air around you kept getting darker and darker until you fainted. Unable to handle the pressure and power that comes from the final tail. You woke up the day before your birthday, you told Shanks what happened and he told you not to try that again until he says so.

And now he was about to say so. You could feel the power in the back of your mind, sitting there, festering, trying to claw it's way out. And it scared you. You paled a bit as your brother's training comes to an end. He walks over to you with a grin until he see's your face.

"What's wrong?" He asks, touching your shoulder. His eyes widen and he turns and calls Shanks over.  
"She's unnaturally cold." Cole says, holding onto your shoulder. Shanks feels your forehead and his eyes widen.  
"Is it..." He asks, remembering what you said about the ninth tail. You nod and stand up shakily. Your brother looks at you, his face screamed that he was worried, but you gave him a nervous smile.  
"It'll be fine..." You said, walking to the center of the field.

If only you knew how wrong you were.


	19. Trying 19: What have you done

You shuddered as you tried to bring out your power. The ninth tail, how bad could it be? The same thing as before started to happen. Your shadow stretched and rose from the ground. It engulfed you, freezing you, making your lungs feel like they were on fire. You started to scream, but you couldn't hear anything, you don't even know if they heard you.

But they did, the moment you let out that painful screech both men looked at you startled.  
"(NAME)!?" Cole screams, but all you do is let out another strangled cry.  
"(Name)!" Shanks yells, running over to you. He reaches out but one of the shadow tendrils shoot out shove him away. Your screams became more and more painful to hear. It sounded like you were dieing, and you probably were.

You tried to look around but all you saw was black, you feel the ice sink into your body, all the way to your core. You try to stop it but the more you try to stop the more out of control the power gets. Your body starts to morph like it does when you change into the Ninetailed fox, but insted of being purple on the bottom and changing to a checkmate blue at the tips, it was pure black. You let out another strangled cry, your whole body burned. Something is pushing out from the back of your mind, it grabs your conscious and tears it apart. You scream again but it sounds distorted. You feel yourself slipping away, all your thoughts, your memories, your emotions, until all that was left was your instinct.

The men watch as the shadows stop moving, in front of them was a ninetailed fox, but not the one they were use to seeing. It's eyes were golden and it's fur was pitch black. Cole takes a step forward, looking at the fox's face. It was in pain, and extreme amount of pain. But there was no life in it's eyes. It was a wounded animal, no longer his sister. He takes another cautious step forward, but Shanks singles for him to stand back. But it was too late.

The fox's gaze moves over to the boy, the boy that should have looked so familiar to the fox. If it was still her. It moves slowly and faces Cole, it's golden gaze piercing into sky blue ones. The gaze the fox gave Cole makes him feel cold, he backs away. The fox growls while Cole's eyes widen.

"(Name)..?" He whispers, Shanks moves to get the boy out of there but it was to late. Before Shanks could even turn completely the fox was already on him.  
"COLE!" He screams, everything feels like it slowed down.

Shanks freezes, his eyes widen when the fox bites down on the boy's throat. There was blood, so much blood. Cole let out a strangled cry that distorted when his vocals were torn. Shanks let out a weak gasp as the boy falls to the ground. The fox lets out another scream, sounding like a roar and a woman screaming in pain.

You were in pain, you could taste blood. But why could you taste blood, were you bleeding? You were in so much pain you wouldn't know if you were injured.  
"(Name).." Your brothers voice cut through you like a knife, but his voice was all wrong. It made you feel colder, it made you feel sick. You screamed again, you can hear your distorted voice.  
"I'm sorry.." The voice says to you. You don't understand, why. Why did someone that sounded like your brother apologize to you. Your heart ached, but you couldn't figure out why. The blood, oh god the blood, that taste. It made you want to vomit, but it hurts. Everything hurts.  
"(Name)!" You hear Shanks scream for you, but he sounded so far away. Shanks...Shanks who? Your brother, did you have one? Your conscious fades again, being grabbed by the shadows.

Shanks tried, oh god did he try, to save the kid. But it a matter of seconds he was gone, tears were sliding down the red heads face. He looks back up at the black fox, it looked like it was in so much pain. It's eyes flickered blue for a moment, but then the gold returns.  
"(Name)!" He screams, trying to bring you back without hurting you, but it didn't seem like it would end that way. The man let go of Cole's body and stood up, his head bent forward making it impossible to see his expression.  
"I'm so sorry..." He said, remembering your warning from that morning, you couldn't control it. You knew this but he still made you try to use it. And now...

The red head looks up just as the fox lunges.

"Oh god, I am so sorry..." He whispers before attacking the fox. In a matter of seconds it was down and it slowly transformed back into a human. Shanks looks down at your broken form, blood all over your face. He then looks at what remained of the closest person in your life.

"I'm so fucking sorry..."He whispers again, his voice cracking. What have you done...


	20. Trying 20: Revenge is awesome!

: Present:

You had confessed to killing your brother, but you didn't explain why or what happened. At first the boy's didn't believe you, but then they saw the look on your face. It became so apparent that you were telling the truth, that they were stunned by this new bit of information. They weren't sure how to respond, and had eventually settled for avoiding you. They didn't understand what happened, and you weren't about to sit there and explain it.

It has been two days sense then, and Ace was ready to go home. But being unable to speak he was to stay home for the rest of the week. You had just finished taking Luffy and Sabo to the bus stop on Wednesday morning. You walked into the house, greeted with the thick silence that you were slowly growing use too.

"Ace..?" You call out softly, you know he won't answer you but you would at least try to talk to him. You hear someone climbing the steps and you sigh.  
"You guys can't live here avoiding me." You said, your voice shaking a bit. It's not like you wanted to tell them, why did you have too. Why did Shanks need to make it their business? You sigh again and walk over to the bottom of the steps. He looks down, glaring at you.  
"You wouldn't understand if I told you..." You said, giving him a sad look. He turns around and crosses his arms. You thought for a moment, if you didn't explain yourself they would eventually leave. But if you did would they even want to stay.

"It was...an accident, something I couldn't control..." You whisper the words that have been shoved into your head sense Cole died.  
"I couldn't control..." You pause, taking a shaky breath.  
"I couldn't control my own fruits power and it cost him his life..." You whisper, staring at the floor. You started to cry again, like you did so many times after Coles death. You pushed it into the back of your mind, but whenever you think about him it would surface all those terrible feelings.

You hear Ace walk down the steps and stop in front of you. He shifted his weight from one foot the the other, looking away from you before sighing. He opens his mouth trying to say something, but shuts it when he still can't form the words properly. Another deep breath he tries again.  
"iths opet." He says, trying to say 'It's okay.' He frowns and bites down on his tongue. You over at him and give him a small smile, it took you a minute but you figured out what he said.  
"No...It isn't..."You sigh, frowning again. Ace glares at you but you just smile again.  
"But thank you..." You tell him, hugging him. He wiggles around.  
"Staaaaafp!" He whines, trying to get you to stop. You giggle, you found the way he spoke too adorable.

"Your so cute Ace.~" You said letting him go, his face was red and he pouts.  
"Ey an mut coot." He huffs, he only ever really tried to talk when it was just you and him. You giggle again and give him a small grin.  
"You hungry?" You ask, already knowing what his answer will be. He gives you a 'Duh.' look before hopping off the steps and walking into the kitchen.

"What do you want?" You ask him, he thinks for a minute.  
"Wofil!" He yells, you pause for a moment.  
"Waffles?" You ask, just to be sure. He nods excitedly.  
"Okay!" You said getting out the waffle iron.

You sit there making waffles, you look over to him after making over twenty five.  
"Is this enough?" You ask, but his glare told you. No, No it was not. Sighing you make about thirty more.  
"Okay! This is enough, I mean seriously kid! This is a lot of waffles!" You said, putting the large plate on the dining table. He pouts a bit before shrugging.  
"foom emuf!" He says digging in. You watch him eat and cringe, watching any of these three would make you not want to eat. You sat at the table as he scarfs down his food.

"Good?" You giggle when he looks up at you, syrup dripping off his chin. He shrugs and keeps eating, it's good enough I suppose. After he's done eating he runs off and heads up stairs. While you clean up you think about some things.

"What does he do when his brothers aren't around..?" You muse glancing over your shoulder in the direction of the stairs. You hear him moving around, but you have no idea what he could be doing.

Ace pulls out the box you had bought them during the week they were here. You had taken them to a toy store and let them grab however much they wanted. And with a grin the throws the lid to the box somewhere behind him. He digs around until he finds Luffy's toy car. With a evil smirk he pulls out the coloring books that old man gave him. Some of the stickers were too girly for his liking, but now he had a use for them. If they were going to leave him behind at home and run off to school without him then he was going to make sure they payed for it!

He pulls off some of the flower stickers and decorates Luffy's car, by the time he was done it was so girly it made him want to throw it out the window. Which meant it was perfect! But now it was Sabo's turn...

He sits on the floor with both his legs and arms crossed, frowning at the toybox he realizes that Sabo didn't get that many toys, he didn't want any. So there wasn't much Ace could mess with, he looks around and see's Sabo's hat. He couldn't wear it at school so he was forced to leave it at home, Ace's smirk comes back. He takes the hat out of the room and looks around, now where would he put it? He needed to put it somewhere where he didn't need your help to reach it, because surly you would frown upon his actions right now! Not that he cared any.

He walks to one of the vacant rooms, he frowns at their emptiness. It's been a week, maybe he should have his own room now, he's never had that option before. He walks into the room directly across from yours, behind the stairs railings. He opens in and see's it was mostly empty, aside from a few boxes you put in there, making it a small storage. If he does decide to get his own room, he'll take this one! He decides, a big grin on his face. He walks to the closet and see's it had a bunch of shelves in it, perfect!

He drags a box over to the closet and climbs on top of it, having to wear Sabo's hat so that his hands were free. He takes it off and shoves it onto the top shelf. He'll have a hard time finding it here! Ace smirks again before climbing off the box and pushing it back to where it was before.

Walking out of the room he stares at your bedroom door before walking over and opening it. The room was pretty neat, it had a big bed with a blue blanket and black and white pillows. It looked really soft, he climbs up onto it. It was very soft! He bounces on it for a few minutes, it was very springy too! He laughs to himself as he jumps so high he pats the ceiling before falling back down onto the plush bed. It was really comfy, he snuggles under the blanket. It smelled like that shampoo you bought a few days ago, the kiwi stuff.

Ace yawns a bit and rubs his eyes, laying down he pulls the blanket over his head. Time for a little nap.


	21. Trying 21: Being fancy

You finished the dishes and dry your hands.  
"Ahh...I hate doing the dishes..." You pout, but you knew it had to be done. Maybe you should teach the boys to clean up? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. You chuckle to yourself just as your phone goes off. You recognize the ringtone as Law's, he sure was talking to you more than normal, I wonder why?

"Hello?" You say when you answer it.  
"Hey, (Name)." He greets, there was a slight pause and you frown, a bit confused.  
"Law, is there something you need?" You ask, you hear him moving around in the background.  
"When i stayed over a few weeks ago, I left a notebook in one of the spare rooms, have you seen it?" He asks. You think for a moment, last time he stayed over was seventeen days ago...  
"I haven't been in that room sense you've been in it, so unless the boys touched it, it should still be there." You tell him, you hear him move around some more.  
"Can I come over...?" He asks slowly. You slime slightly, you've been seeing him a lot more lately, which isn't a bad thing, it's just odd.

"We've been seeing a lot more of each other lately.." You comment softly. He gets very quiet, you hear him moving again.  
"Yeah, we have..." He says almost as quietly as you did.  
"What are you doing? I hear you moving around a lot." You ask, he gives you a light chuckle.  
"I'm getting dressed, unless you wanted me to come over shirtless?" He teases, your face turns red. You remember the tattoo's he got, now you didn't think you'd dislike that...No bad (Name), he friendzoned you. When you don't respond he chuckles again.  
"I guess you wouldn't mind that after all?" He phrases that like a question, you cough.

"Sorry, wasn't paying attention..." You lie.  
"And go ahead and put some clothes on, Ace is still here and I don't think he is interested in the tattoo's on your body." You huff, he laughs.  
"Alright, see you in a few." He says before hanging up. Smooth (Name).

"Ace?" You call out, it has been oddly quiet for the last few minutes. You don't hear anything, so you start to ascend the steps.  
"Aaaaaace?~" You sang out, but it was still quiet, you check the boys room. You see he made a mess with the toys, you spot Luffy's red car. It was covered with floral stickers, you sigh.  
"Oh he is not going to like that..." You sigh before shutting the door, you check some of the other rooms, and in the room across from yours you find Sabo's hat on the top shelf of the closet.  
"What is this doing here?" You murmur while picking it up. You place it on your head and grin.

"Now I look fancy.~" You giggle to yourself, walking out of the room. You wondered where Ace could be till you noticed your bedroom door was open. Raising your brow, questioning if the boy would really sneak into your room. You walk inside and look around. Everything seemed to be normal, until you see the bed. It was messy and there was a lump in the middle of it.

"Oh my..." You being, walking over and moving the blanket down. You had to stop yourself from squealing, Ace was curled up on your bed, asleep.  
"So cuuuuuute.." You whisper, brushing some of his hair out of his face. He grumbles a bit and snuggles closer to the bed, pulling one of the pillows and placing it over his head. You pull out your phone and move the pillow, taking a picture of the sleeping kid. You open group chat and send the photo, they were going to enjoy this.

KiraKira joins group.  
KiraKira sends .  
Drunk: OOOO  
Drunk: MYYYYYY  
Drunk: GOOOOOOOD  
Bookworm: He looks so cute  
KiraKira: I found him in my room after doing the dishes!  
Drunk: He can be cute.  
Drunk: But only when he's asleep.  
Bookworm: This is really cute  
Pennyless: Sooooooo cuuuuuuuute!

You were about to reply when you hear the door open downstairs. You log out and cover Ace back up. Might as well let him sleep. You walk out of the room and down the steps. You see Law in the living room, he smiles when he see's you.  
"Hey (Name)." He greets, you grin and show him the picture on your phone. Law looks at it and smirks.  
"Is he up there right now?" He asks and you nod, giggling a bit. He looks at your head and his smirk widens.  
"Will Sabo like the fact you stole his hat?" He asks and you look up at him innocently.  
"I dunno what your talking about.." You look away with a small grin on your face.

"Can I go look for my notebook?" He asks, and you laugh.  
"Yeah sure, I'll help. I think the boys have been playing in there." You say while you walk back up the steps. He follows you and you enter the room to the left. The room had a few toys scattered about and the bed was a mess.  
"Yeah, they've been in here..." You chuckle lightly, Law enters after you and looks around, a frown on his lips. There were papers scattered around, you frown as well.

"I hope those aren't your papers.." You sigh, bending over to sift through them. Law looks over at you and walks over and looks at the papers. He picks up a few and sighs.  
"Some of these are..." He says picking them up, you give him an apologetic look and he just groans when he see's juice spilt on some of them.  
"(Name)..."He groans slightly, you give him a small smile.  
"I-if there is anything I can do...uh..." You start, he just gives you the 'Shut up' look and you fall silent.  
"Just help me find everything..."He sighs.

You sigh as well, you just hope they weren't too important. You glance at Law who was focused on the sticky situation he found himself in.


	22. Trying 22: Law get's burned

"(Name)..." Law says, making you stop peeling papers off the floor so you can turn to him. He was holding one of your old sketchbooks. You walk over and see it was from five years ago.  
"Ooooh that's an oldie..." You gasp, taking it from him. You open it to see some messily sketched scenes, flipping through you stop on a sketch of Law. You giggle while he looks over your shoulder. It was of him asleep in class.  
"I remember this..." He says, sounding mildly surprised.

"I woke up while you were drawing, you were so focused you didn't even notice.." He chuckles to himself. You nudge him with your elbow with a pout on your lips, your cheeks lightly flushed.  
"I suddenly look up and your eyes were open and you were staring at me, I nearly jumped out of my skin..!" You whine slightly, he just chuckles and takes the book.  
"That was while we were still dating right?" He asks, you flinch slightly. You didn't like to talk about your old relationship with him. Mostly because you still loved him, but he had made it clear that it would be better if we stayed friends. When you don't respond he looks at you, his expression became a bit cold.

"(Name)..."He says lowly, you look up at him and sigh.  
"I suppose that was...I don't really remember." You lie, his gaze narrows. He knows you remember, but he lets it go. He flips to another page and it stops on a sketch of Cole. He tilts the book away from you so you don't see. He stares at the image his neutral expression turning into a small frown. You see this and try to peek over his shoulder but he closes it abruptly.

"Let's keep cleaning." He says while tossing the sketchbook onto the bed. He gets up and walks over to a pile of papers.  
"O-oh Okay..." You say, turning back to what you were doing before.

It took you both over two hours to finish cleaning that room. You sigh while standing back up, stretching.  
"Aaaaaaah~ Now I need a nap..." You yawn, Law looks over at you and frowns.  
"Your bed is currently being preoccupied." He says, his frown worsening when you jump onto the bed in the spare bedroom.  
"This one isn't~" You giggle, snuggling into the pillows with a sigh.

"That's my bed." He says from behind you. You ignore him until he turns you over, you slowly open your eyes with another sigh.  
"You gave up that title if I remember correctly, Trafalgar." You said coolly, you see his right eye twitch. He stares at you, thinking about who knows what. The tension kept rising, he leans forward, his nose almost touching yours.  
"I don't give things up. What's mine is mine." He states and your gaze narrows into his.

"My house, Trafalgar. And what's mine is not yours, not anymore anyways." You respond, your tone getting colder. He smirks suddenly.  
"I don't give things up." He says, you look up at him confused. He just chuckles darkly before sitting back up.  
"The kids awake." He says nonchalantly. You look over at the door to see Ace standing there with a disgusted look on his face.

There was a long pause, you open your mouth to say something but then close it. Your push Law off the bed, he just starts laughing at your expression as your face turns red. You glare at him, his attitude was pissing you off.  
"Get out." You said coldly, he stops laughing but he is still smirking at you. Your glare worsens and he just shrugs, walking out the room.  
"I was serious about that by the way." He says right before leaving the room. Ace just glares at him as he walks past him and down the steps. He then turns to you and gives you a disapproving look. You frown at the kid.

"Hey! I don't need your approval about the men that I'm with." You huff, his expression turns into a glare and you pout slightly.  
"You could have helped me..." You huffed again, Ace looks at you confused. You sigh and shake your head, you notice the sketchbook and smile while picking it up.  
"Hey check this out! This is my sketchbook from my early years of high school~" You tell him, he walks over at looks at it curiously. He takes it and opens it to the first picture, which was of the town. You sketched it while sitting on top of the school roof. His jaw drops slightly and he looks up at you.  
'You drew this?' You could almost hear him ask, you grinned.  
"Yep, I drew this!~" You said and he looks back at the book, turning to the next page. It was of a forest, near the RH HQ. He turns the page again to see a picture of the lake that was near the orphanage, he stares at it.

"I use to be in the orphanage..." You admitted, he looks up at you.  
"I never got adopted...So when I got fed up with all the other kids I would run off to the lake, and just sit out there..." You sigh, he stares at you for a bit before turning back to the book. He looks at the details a bit more before turning the page, it was the picture of Law. He frowns and scoffs at it. You giggle at him.

"You don't like Law much do you?" You ask him, he huffs. It's not that he doesn't like him... He looks back up at you with a frown on his lips, and then back at the sketchbook.  
"We use to date.~" You said, making Ace look back up at you with a shocked expression.  
"But he broke it off, when he made his mafia group a year and a half ago." You shrug, trying to act indifferent.  
"We dated for...oh gosh four and a half years?" You hummed, Ace frowned. No wonder you were so close to him.

"He broke it off because it was to dangerous or something like that..." You sigh, shrugging again. Ace looks at you with a bored expression. You grin at him, of course he doesn't care about that kind of stuff. He goes to the next page and it's of Zoro. He looks at you as if to ask who this was.  
"Zoro, A friend of mine. Knew him sense junior high." You said, he nods then moves onto the next picture. You feel your heart skip a beat, Cole. Ace looks at the picture then at you, then back at the picture. This was obviously a guy, but he looked just like you at the same time. He realizes who this was and quickly closes the book. He glances up at you, you look like your in pain. He puts the book on the bed and abruptly grabs your arm and pulls you.

"Foob!" He says pulling at you. It takes a few tugs to pull you out of your slight daze.  
"Huh?" You mutter looking down at him. He yanks your arm harder and frowns up at you.  
"Foob. Wunsht...Wunch!" He says, trying to get you up. You realize he was asking for lunch, you give him a big smile.  
"Okay! Food!~" You sang while getting up, he pulls you into the hall and down the steps. You get down the steps and see Law in the living room.

"Your still here..?" You ask him, he looks at you and raises an eyebrow.  
"Nooo...obviously not." He says sarcastically. Ace glares at him and pushes you into the kitchen.  
"Ahh Ace..!" You gasp, almost tripping and falling onto your face. Ace walks into the living room, you peek around the corner and you see him trying to push Law out. You giggle a bit, Ace can be such a sweetheart.

"What's your problem kid?" Law says, brushing the kid off. Ace pushes him again.  
"Weave." He demands, Law smirks.  
"You want to wear a weave?" He teases, Ace's face turns red and he punches Law's leg.  
"Wave er awone." He says pushing him again. Law glares down at him.

"Leave her alone?" He asks grabbing Ace by the back of his shirt and picking him up.  
"I don't have too." He says coldly, dropping Ace when he started to flail around.  
"Law." You said. You glared at him, he just smirks at you.

"I won't hurt him." He says smoothly. Ace gets back up and starts pushing Law again, getting even more pissed off.  
"I want to talk to you..." He continues, ignoring Ace. You look at Ace, a bit concerned about his temper. Ace suddenly catches fire and gets pushed across the room by Law.

"Fuck...!" He gasps, brushing the flames out on his pants and lower portion of his jacket. You run over to Ace and try to calm him down.  
"Ace..!" You gasp, grabbing onto him. His flames immediately subside, not wanting to burn you. Law glares at him once he puts the fire out on his clothes.  
"That hurt.." He sighs, stopping himself from saying something stupid and walks over to the both of you.  
"You okay kid?" He asks, Ace glares at him and grabs onto you. Law frowns at him then at you.

"We'll talk later I guess..."He sighs before standing up and walking to the front door. You look at him, opening your mouth to say something but then before you have the chance too Law closes the door behind him.

You look down at Ace who was still holding onto you while glaring at the door. Well he 'helped' this time...

"Thanks..." You said giving him a small smile, he looks up at you and grins. He suddenly frowns when his stomach growls, his face turns pink. You giggle at him and stand up, pulling him up with you.  
"Alright, lets have lunch!" You cheer, he grins at you again and runs into the kitchen. You look at the front door with a small frown on your lips.

What could he have wanted to talk to you about?


	23. Trying 23: Ace's new room!

Ace made sandwiches, and a lot of them. He ended up using all of the lunch meat, you sighed at the mountain of sandwiches.  
"Ace..." You said is name slowly, he looks up at you, two sandwiches sticking out of his mouth. He gives you a confused expression, you look at him and laugh weakly.  
"Your lucky your so cute..."You laugh when his cheeks turn red. He turns back around and keeps eating. He grabs a sandwich and turns and hands it to you. He wanted you to eat again. You smile and grab it and take a bite. He makes sure your really eating it before nodding and turning back around to eat.

By the time he finished eating there was still about twenty eight sandwiches left. You look at the clock on the stove and sigh. At least the other two will be home in an hour, so they can finish off the sandwiches. Ace walks up to you and reaches up, confused you look down at him.

"Hmm?" You hum and he just grabs your shirt and tries to pull himself up. You pick him up and he grabs Sabo's hat off your head.  
"Hive ish." He says trying to jump down. You giggle as he runs off.

He runs up the steps and back into the spare room across from yours, he looks around and calls down the steps,  
"(Naaaaaamuuu)"He calls out your name, saying it in a cute lisp. You walk up to the bottom of the steps and look up at him.  
"Ma rum!" He says pointing in the direction of your room and the spare room.  
"Ma...my..rum?" You tilt your head confused, he rolls his eyes.  
"Roam...rum...ruuuum...rooum..."He says, getting frustrated.  
"Room?" You ask and he nods, you walk up the steps and he runs over to the spare bedroom.

"Ma rum!" He says, putting his hands on his hips with a large grin on his face. You smile at him and walk into the room.  
"You want this room?" You ask him and he nods, you look around at the few boxes in there.  
"We need to get you a bed...we can ask -" You pause, you don't want to talk to Law yet.  
"We can ask Shanks for help with that!" You tell him, he grins at you and grabs one of the boxes and starts to push it out the room.

"Ace..!" You laugh, picking up the box.  
"Where you going to even put this?" You ask him, he looks up at you and crosses his arms and shrugs.  
"Ey dunt knuw." He shrugs again and you sigh.  
"Well, we can put it in the room me and Law just cleaned up." You mused.  
"Hish rum?" He asks and you cringe slightly.  
"It's not his room...I don't understand why he said that..." You sigh carrying the box out into the hall, Ace picks up a smaller box and follows you. You walk into the room and put it down next to the closet, Ace copies you by placing it on top of your box. You continue doing this until the last box, Ace opens it and stares at all the toys.

"Wash dish?" He asks pulling out a wooden train. You look at it and give it a sad smile.  
"Those were Cole's toys, as well as mine actually." You said pulling out a handmade doll.  
"They were made for us by a lady that visited the orphanage, we kept them because they were the only things ever given to us as kids...though a lot got thrown away because it was broken over the years..." You sigh placing it back into the box.  
"Do you want some of them?" You ask as he pulls out the rest of the train, attaching it together. He nods and rolls it across the floor. You look into the box and pull out a string with a block on the end.

"Come here, bring the train." You say, he brings it over and you attack the string by sliding the block into a slot on the front of the train. You give it a tug and the train rolls around, following the string. He grins at it and grabs the string out of your hand. He runs around pulling the train with him, you giggle and chase after him. He yelps and runs faster, you catch him and scoop him up and he giggles.

You put him down and he grabs the string again and tugs it, walking out the room. You follow after him and watch him run down the steps, the train falling down after him, you cringe every time it smacks against the hardwood stairs. You follow after him and smile as he runs through the house with the train. He stops at the front door and opens it.

"We should wait till your brothers get home, maybe they'll pick a room and we can get them a bed too?" You ask him and he frowns. You grab the string and tug it, it rolls away from him. You smirk and run away from him, pulling the train along.  
"Eeeey!" He calls out while running after you. You run into the kitchen and run into the dining room, almost tripping on the small step up. Ace appears in the dining room and tackles you. You fall over giggling, you start to tickle him.

He starts to laugh and wiggle away from you, but you hug him and tickle him some more.  
"Shaaaap!"He screeches while laughing. He wiggles away from you and tackles you from behind and you stand up with him on your back.  
"Ooh? Where did he go?" You joke, he giggles behind you while you walk around as he clings to your back. He wraps his legs around your back, you can see his little feet on your belly and you giggle.  
"Aaaaace?" You call out, pretending you didn't see his feet.  
"Eeeeeees?" He whispers, you pretend to look around confused.

"Where'd you gooo?" You call out, trying not to giggle when he starts laughing.  
"Eight ear!" He says with another giggle. You look around once more and walk to the couch.  
"But I don't seeeee you.~" You sang out, he giggles again. You sit down, making sure not to put all your weight down. He squeals when he feels you sit down. You half gasp half giggle and sit up.  
"Oh! There you are!" You giggle again, he smacks you on the back of the head lightly. You hear the alarm on your phone go off and you turn around and pick up Ace.

"Let's go get your brothers! It's time to go get them.~" You say, he gasps and wiggles out of your grasp. He grabs the train and runs up to the door with a big grin on his face.  
"Ma tain!" He says, ready to show off his new toy.


	24. Trying 24: Choo Choo!

Ace was humming as we walked to the corner of the street, you giggled as he swung his arms, yanking the train whenever he threw his left arm forward.  
"Ace." You called him, he turns to you and you point to the stop sign.  
"This is were the bus stop is." You informed him, he looks at the stop sign then up and down the street. No sign of them yet. He walks over to you and around you and back to the stop sign, dragging the train around. You smiled at him and watched as he pulls it along side him. He looks over at you and walks back over and walks behind you. He grabs the back of your shirt and pushes you a bit.

"Chu Choo" He says pushing you again, you start to walk and you lead the train. You giggle, and start making train noises while walking around. But you didn't notice the bus was there until you heard Sabo laughing at you. You turned and looked at him, Luffy was pouting.  
"I wanna play..!" He whines running over to Ace. Ace let's you go and Luffy grabs your shirt, Ace grabs his. Sabo stops laughing and frowns at this, you smirk at him.  
"Wanna play?" You ask him, he looks at you and pouts slightly. You walk over to him and grab the back of his collar.  
"Lead on then!" You giggle when he turns around and grins at you.

He starts by walking slowly, making train noises.  
"Choo Choo!~" He calls out, starting to walk a bit faster, you try to make sure the way your walking doesn't trip up Luffy or Ace. Sabo runs even faster making hard for you to keep up without actually having to run, making the two behind you struggle to run without running into your legs. We run past the house and you inwardly groan, where is he taking us?

"Where we heading too?" You ask him, you hear him laugh. He runs around the block and back around to the bus stop.  
"May I request a stop?" You gasp, becoming a bit breathless. He slows to a stop when he reaches the house. He turns around and gives the three of you a huge grin.  
"Last stop, home!" He says before running up the driveway and up the steps into the house. Luffy lets go and runs after him, Ace following along with the train trailing behind him.

"They are just too damn cute..." You sigh under your breath and follow after them. You step inside and see that Luffy and Sabo threw their book bags onto the floor next to the entertainment center.

"Do you guys have homework?" You ask, the fact they didn't answer you was proof that they did.  
"Well after your done eating, yes Luffy I can hear you from in here." You start, you hear Ace and Sabo laugh.  
"We are going out to get beds...or a bed. Ace picked his own room today while you two were gone." You finish, you suddenly can't hear their munching, which meant that they had probably stopped and looked at him.

"So I'll be getting him a bed. Now if either one of you two would like your own room, tell me now or forever hold your peace.~" You hum, and you hear one of them get up and walk out of the kitchen. Looking around the corner you see Sabo run up the steps. A few seconds later you see Luffy run out of the kitchen, still shoving sandwiches into his mouth. He runs up the steps after Sabo, Ace walks out of the kitchen and grins at you. You smile back at him and wait for the other two to make their decision.

"(NAME)!" They both call out at the same time, you laugh softly to yourself and walk up the steps. Next to Ace's room, directly to your right, which was the room all three of them were in.  
"I'll keep this room!" Luffy says, with his hands on his hips and a big grin on his face. Directly in front of you Sabo stood there with a grin, his room was going to be right next to the one you and Law had cleaned.  
"This one will be mine!" He says with a grin just as big as Luffy's. You smile at them both.

"All right, sense Luffy already has his own bed, we just need to get Ace and Sabo one." You started to say but Luffy pouted and stared at you with huge watery eyes. You paused and stared at him. You tried to say something but he sniffled and you looked at Sabo for help, he just shook his head. You look at Luffy and sigh.  
"Okay okay, everyone gets new beds!" You said and he cheers.  
"Yaaaaaaay!" Luffy cheers, Sabo starts laughing. You sigh and shake your head.

"Let me call Shanks...I hope he isn't busy." You sigh pulling your phone out your pocket, Luffy cheers even louder. You dial his number and it rings a few times before he answers.  
"Hello~?" He answers, there is a slight pause and he starts laughing.  
"I can hear Luffy..!" He says between laughter.

"Hey can you uh...help me buy beds?" You ask, there was a pause before he starts to laugh again.  
"Beds?" He hums.  
"The boy's picked their rooms and well... they need beds." You say, he hums again.  
"Alright.~ More fun than this anyways..." He huffs, you laugh lightly. He hums again.  
"What?" You ask him he just chuckles.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I'll be there in a few." He answers, after he hangs up you look down at Luffy who was clinging to your leg.  
"Well!? Well..!?" He asks and you laugh and give him a small nod. He cheers and runs down the steps, tripping on the last two and landing on his face.  
"Ishot." Ace says, Sabo laughs at him and Ace just glares up at him from the bottom of the steps. You smile at them.

"Alright alright, let's go wait outside. But after we're done you have homework." You said as you walked down the steps. The younger two groan while Ace smirks.


	25. Trying 25: Luffy?

Shanks arrived not long after you called him. And as soon as he stepped through the door he was tackled by the rubber kid.  
"Shaaaaaaanks!" Luffy screams while latching onto the mans waist. Shanks picks him up while laughing.  
"Heya Luffy how was school?" He asks, the boy pouts, only making the man laugh more.  
"I'll take that as a, you didn't like it very much, huh?" He says while laughing.

"Hey!" You greet him while being dragged to the door by the other two.  
"Let's go!" Luffy cheers before Shanks can say anything else. And without another word, mostly laughter, you all head into the car.

It was about a twenty five minute drive, and the whole time Luffy talked to Shanks, you and the other two exchanged looks and snickered at Luffy's endless chatter. By the time you reached there you were ready to go home. The boy's hopped out the car and into the store before you even set both of your feet on the ground outside.

"My god...they are so fast..." You sigh standing up, your only twenty years old and they made you feel even older. Shanks laughs at you.  
"Nah, everyone was like that at their age..." He laughs when you glare at him.  
"I'm only twenty..." You huff as he just laughs a bit harder at your expression.  
"Aw.. already worrying if you're getting old?" He teases, you just huff again and walk into the store. Leaving the redhead laughing behind you.

You enter the store and look around, it had been awhile sense you've been here, your last bed was ordered online. You walked to the kids sections, hoping this is where they ran off too. But you sighed when you saw only Sabo was there.  
"Where are they?" You ask him, he looks up at you and shrugs.  
"Luffy ran off in a random direction because he didn't know where to go and Ace went to go catch him." He states before turning back to the beds, trying to pick one.  
You sigh, he wasn't going to be of much help, you turn around and start to wander the store. Where could they be..? You see Shanks out of the corner of your eye and walk over to him.

"I lost them…" You sigh and he starts laughing again.  
"Already? That was quick, we just got here.." He says between bouts of laughter.  
"Luffy got himself lost and Ace is hunting for him…" You sigh again, this was going to be a normal thing wasn't it. You walked down an isle full of pillows, you immediately notice the anomaly.  
There was a large pile of pillows in the center of the isle, it looked something like a fort. You immediately walk over and start picking up the pillows, placing them back onto the shelves.  
"Awww…(Name) I was playing with that!" You hear Luffy cry when you destroy his roof.  
"Luffy…We don't own this, you can't just build a fort out of it." You said while picking up a few more, you hear someone behind you cough. You turn around and see a store worker, he is glaring at Luffy and then at you.  
"I'm picking them up…sorry about this." You said, picking up some more. Luffy huffs and sits on the floor with his arms crossed, pouting. You look at him pleadingly.  
"Luffy please…" You beg, but he just huffs and turns away from you, ahh where were his brothers when you needed them?

"If this one is yours I assume the one that fell asleep in the queen sized beds area is also yours?" You hear the man say, you cringe slightly.  
"Aaaaaaaace…." You whine while putting the last of the pillows up. Luffy starts giggling at you and gets up and runs off.  
"Luffy!" You call after him, he turns the corner and you start to go after him but the store worker coughs again.  
"Ma'am, control your children." He says rudely, you glare at him.  
"What the hell does it look like I'm trying to do!?" You hiss before running after Luffy.

You turn the corner but you don't see him, stupid store clerk…  
You start walking between the isles, looking for the rubber kid. You find yourself in the queen bed section and decide to look for Ace, and it didn't take you long.  
"Shaaap!" You hear him yell, you turn a corner and see one of the clerks holding him up by the back of his shirt. He is glaring at them while screaming.  
"Puu me douhn!" He yells trying to get away, he sees you and reaches out to you. You walk over and take him from the clerk, who glares at you. You hold onto Ace and glare at the clerk.  
"Yeah yeah, control them. Whatever I have a rubber kid to find!" You said walking off, Ace sticks his tongue out at the clerk while you walk away.

You walked over to the kids section to see that Shanks was helping Sabo pick out a bed, they both turn to you when you walk up. You put Ace down and look at the bed Sabo was looking at.  
"I like this one!" He says grinning, you give him a small smile.  
"Okay! Then you can go pick out two pillows and some sheets, Ace." You said turning to the oldest, who looks up at you.  
"Pick out your bed and do the same, I still have to find Luffy…" You sigh, turning and walking into another isle.

After ten minutes you were starting to worry, what the hell was this kid doing.  
"Luffy?" You start calling out for him, and after ten more minutes you were getting antsy.  
"Luffy!?" You call out louder, you past a store clerk who looks at you when you call for him again.  
"Is something wrong miss?" She asks, you turn to her and frown.  
"I can't find my youngest…" You admitted, she looked around with a slight worried expression.

"I'll go to the front desk and call him over the intercom…" She says before walking away, you go back to looking for the kid.  
"Luuuuffy!" You call out again, you pass the kids section again and the two boys run up to you.  
"You haven't found him?" Sabo asks, looking mildly worried. Ace was frowning which only worsened when you nodded.  
"I have no idea where he ran off to…" You sigh before running down the next few isles.  
"Luuuuuffyyyyy!" You yelled, you hear them call him over the intercom, but still no one could find him. You hear his brothers start to call out for him, which only made you worry more. Where did he run off to?

You see Shanks and walk over to him.  
"Have you seen him..?" You ask hopefully, but he shakes his head and frowns.  
"I'm sure he's fine, he is probably just hiding somewhere…" He says, walking down an isle while calling for him.

"Luffy…"You whisper his name while looking around at the store, sure it was big but they should have seen him by now.


	26. Trying 26: You done goofed

div class="dev-page-view view-mode-normal" data-gmiclass="DeviationPageView" /div  
div class="gr-top"  
div class="gr"  
div class="metadata"You were beyond panicking, and everyone could see that. All of the clerks that had made you a bit mad earlier seemed to be feeling guilty. Now here you were, talking to the cops trying to figure out what happened. You kept the older two at your side at all times, not risking them disappearing as well./div  
/div  
/div  
div class="grf-indent"  
div class="text"br /"(Name)…It's okay…" Shanks kept trying to calm you down, but you watched so many of those cop shows that you were practically wanting to scream at him. But instead of making that mistake twice you take a deep and shaky breath and try to calm yourself. The other two were eerily quiet, they haven't moved in the last ten minutes, and for children that is / br /"Shanks…" You start, not wanting to do this but at the same time you didn't want them to just stand here. Shanks looks at you and frowns at your expression, you look /"Can you take them…somewhere…?" You said as both boys looked up at you and /"No!" Sabo screams while Ace just grabs the bottom of your shirt tightly, you looked at Shanks pleadingly. He his frown deepens as he grabs the boys by their /"Nooo!" They both whines, Ace's coming out a bit strangely but the message was still the same, they didn't want to leave you. Not while their brother was still missing. You took out your phone and texted Garp, Smoker, and Law. It only took a few minutes before Smoker / br /"How long has it been sense you last saw him and where were you?" Was the first thing he said when you /"We were shopping for beds, we searched the whole store but he isn't here…As for how long ago it's been about an hour now.." You sobbed slightly, after what happened with Ace you did not need /"Calm down, I'll look for him, have you contacted Garp?" He asks and you /"Yea but you're the first person to message bac-" You say but then your phone call is interrupted by another /"Hold on I think it's him…" You say switching / br /"Is he still missing!" You hear Garp yell, pulling the phone away from your /"I wouldn't have called if he wasn't!" You yelled back, you hear him /"It's like this world is out to get you, do you think they're involved?" He asks, reffereing to Sabo's parents. You frown, it might be…br /"I don't know, I don't have real proof…" You said and you hear him /"If it was then Doflamingo has him." He says and you cringe. You knew about him, you've meet him because of Law. You were silent so Garp /"The best way to find out is by asking Law, who can ask Corazon." He says, you cringe again. Oooh you did not want to ask him to do this, it was soooo not going to end well. When you still said nothing he /"You need to find out, cause if he does have him you might be able to get him back…"He finishes, hanging up before you can disagree. It wasn't long before Law calls you, you take a deep breath and / br /"You okay?" Was the first thing he said, you wanted to cry but instead you take a deep /"Smoker is out looking and Garp thinks Sabo's parents might be involved again…" You said, you hear him /"If they are that means he has them…" He says, reaching the same conclusion as Garp. You frown at his /"We don't know for sure yet…" You said, you hear him move the /"I'll ask around." He says, you would have hugged him if he was standing near /"Thank you…" You said almost breathlessly. You hear him hum lightly before he hangs up the phone. You put your phone away and sigh, rubbing the sides of your head with your fingers. What can you do now…?br / br /You look around you, the cops searching the store, the clerks answering questions, a news screw just arrived, and you felt like / br /"What the hell do I do..?" You mumble to yourself, you wanted to /"What..what….what…" You keep mumbling, trying to think. With a frown on your lips you look around again. Sitting here and doing nothing won't /"I'll go look for him…" You sigh and walk out of the store, you explain to the cops and the news crew you can't sit still, you need to look for him yourself. When you get out of their range of sight you use your fruit. You would use your sense of smell to find him, or at least try / br /You walked around town, you smelled him at a lot of places, places you had taken him or places he had run off to with his brothers. Most of the time his scent was mixed with his brothers, showing he was never alone. You found one were his brothers weren't with him. You frowned at it, cause you smelled something familiar. You followed it, and as you walked along you recognized the route. Garp was right, and now here you were standing at a gate to a large building. You've been here, only when you were with Law. You pulled out your phone again, but before you could text Law you hear someone talk over the intercom on the / br /"Ah…(Name) come in." The voice said, you flinched slightly, recognizing it. Oh were you an idiot, you came here alone, you were a huge idiot. Sending a short message to Law you walked into the gates that were opening themselves. You glanced at the message before hitting send and putting it in your / br /"You were right, I fucked up."/div  
/div 


	27. Trying 27: Deal with the devil

This was going a lot more calmly than you were expecting, aside from the extreme glares you were receiving from the younger brother of the man in front of you. Looking over to that mans left you give a nervous smile, but the glare does not lessen. Oooh you could almost hear him tell you that you fucked up. But you shift your gaze to the man in front of you wearing a pink feathery cowl. Your lips turn into a frown.

"So…Good afternoon." You greet finally, after choosing to be silent since you entered the building. Breaking the silence causes him to look up from the folder he was looking at. Between the two of you was a large dark desk, covered in an assortment of papers, and you didn't want to know what they said. It was probably something you didn't want to know.

"So she breaks the silence.." He said smoothly, smirking when you cringe at his voice. You straighten your posture and mentally scold yourself for cringing.  
"Yes well, this was going no where fast." You replied, looking at everything in the room but the desk and the person in front of you. Your eyes meets Corazon's and you flinch, his expression told you to shut up. You wish Law was here…  
"Well, what did you need today..?" Doflamingo asks, looking down at the papers on his desk again, missing the exchange you had with his brother.  
"I'm…looking for someone." You said, making it sound more like you were going to talk business. You knew the kind of work this man was in, and you might be able to use it to your advantage.  
Doflamingo ran a business where he bought and sold anything, he would also do just about anything for money. That includes assassinations, kidnapping, ruining peoples lives indefinitely. As long as you paid him more than your competition, then you were in the clear.

He glances up at you, obviously a bit surprised by this. He knew who you're here for, but here you were trying to turn this into a business deal. He closes the folder and smirks at you.  
"I know you don't have the money to outbid them…" He says smoothly, you frown at that.  
"That's not completely true, I'll use those funds. And I'm sure you're aware of what funds I'm talking about." You said, keeping your tone even and business like. He hums, more than a bit surprised by this.  
"I thought you were never going to touch that money…" He hums, putting his hands together. You cross your leg over top of the other and keep your expression as neutral as possible.  
"Well I've seemed to hit a wall…" You said calmly. He looks back down at his desk and reaches for a paper and pulls it out from under a small stack, he tosses it to you. You grab it and look down at it, you felt cold after looking at the order on it, as well as the numbers they were willing to pay.

"I'm sure you're aware of how I run things…as long as you pay more, I won't kill the boy." He says, putting his hands together again, a smirk on his lips. You had to fight back the scream you wanted to release. He chuckles at your paled expression.  
"This far just to make him miserable…"You say a bit breathlessly. The order was to kill Luffy and Ace. You were tempted to crumble the paper, but you knew this was probably a copy. You look up at him with a scowl on your face, he just chuckles.

"One hundred thousand beli per kid, they assumed you wouldn't have the money to pay this." He says laughing harshly. You quickly fixed your expression and put it back into a neutral expression.  
"Two hundred thousand per kid." You said calmly, he laughs.  
"Good, good. That brings it up to four hundred thousand just to keep them alive!" He muses, obviously enjoying this development. He pulls out a checkbook and hands it to you. You grab it slowly, and put down the information for the bank account you never use. You put down how much money will be withdrawn, adding fifty thousand to the total, Doflamingo looks at this.

"I know you have him…" You said smoothly, handing him the check. He chuckles and looks at his brother and gives him a slight nod. Corazon stands up and leaves the room, you watch him from the corner of your eye, not risking glancing over at him.  
"And so I do, you paid the release fee..You know more about my deals than I thought…" He muses, watching your expression. You tried to keep a straight face but as soon as you heard your name you immediately relax and turn around.

"(Name)..!" Luffy sobs while running up to you and jumping into your arms, you had to use every bit of your willpower not to start crying. You can't cry, not here. You hold him closely while Doflamingo laughs at you.  
"Well isn't that sweet…" He says, disgust was very obvious in his words. You just turn to him, a slight glare on your face. Someone else walks in and Doflamingo's smirk widens.  
"Looks like someone is here to pick you up…" He says, you turn around and see Law, whose face was so tense and neutral that you could tell he was pissed.  
"Well we're done so." You said, standing up abruptly. He tsks at you.  
"Now wait, you should finalize your deal." He says, making sure Law could hear him, you could feel his gaze shift to you and you tense. There was so much disapproval coming from him that you wanted to smack the pink fluffed bastards face so hard that smirk would be wiped clean off.  
"Fine." You said smoothly, your tone got colder, and it only made his smirk widen.  
"I need your number, in case someone…outbids you…" He says casually, you take a pen and grab a piece of loose paper and write down your cell while holding Luffy with your right arm.  
"Is that all…?" You ask and he nods, you turn away from the desk and walk briskly over to Law. Who then wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you out of the room and out into the hall. He doesn't slow his pace until we reach his car outside, Corazon follows.

"You idiot!" Was the first thing Law screams at you once you reach the car, Luffy yelps and clings onto you, hiding his face on your neck. You glare at him.  
"What did you make a deal about!?" He continues, Corazon puts a hand on his shoulder and he immediately relaxes.  
"(Name) what have you done..?" He whispers, giving you a painful look. You sigh and tell him about the deal Sabo's parents made with Doflamingo and Law just glares at the building while you talk.

"So you see…If I left things alone.." You said slowly and he nods.  
"Then he would have just came back later and killed them…" He finishes, looking over at you. You hug Luffy who was now shaking. He looks at Luffy and reaches over and pats the boy's head.  
"I'll take you home…come on…" He says softly, you look at Corazon who was just frowning at this whole situation. He looks at Luffy and sighs before turning around and going back inside. You sit in the back seat with Luffy who doesn't let you go, Law looks back at the both of you and sighs. You brush your fingers through Luffy's hair and hold onto him.

"I'm sorry…" He sobs while looking up at you. You look down at him confused.  
"If I didn't run off this wouldn't have happened…"He cries and buries his head against your arm, you pull him into a hug.  
"It's not your fault…don't ever think it's your fault…" You whisper, glaring at the building as Law pulls away.

"If it's anyone's its mine…" You whisper quietly.


	28. Trying 28: Everyone needs a nap!

Luffy had fallen asleep on the way home, he was so exhausted from being so terrified by Doflamingo. You picked him up and held him as Law pulled into the driveway. You go to open the door to get out but he stops you.

"(Name)…" He says looking back at you, you look at him and stifle a yawn.  
"We need to talk…" He starts and you watch him as he gets out his side and crawls into the back seat with you and Luffy.  
"I'm.." He starts again, he looks at you then looks away with a sigh. You reach out and grab his right arm.  
"What's wrong Law…?" You ask him he grabs your hand and sighs, leaning his head back on the seat.  
"You're an idiot…" He sighs, rubbing his thumb on your hand. He looked really stressed, you noted.

You lean over and give him a slight peck on the cheek.  
"I need to take him inside, so you can call me later oka-" You started to say, but he turns and his lips meet yours. You tensed up and your eyes widened, you pulled away slowly.  
"I'll call you later…" He confirms a bit breathlessly. You get out of the car while holding Luffy, you still looked shocked about what just happened. You slowly walked to the steps, glancing back before you opened the front door, you watched Law drive off.  
"Why…"You mutter to yourself as you open the front door.

"Luffy!" Sabo screams as soon as he sees you and the sleepy boy. Luffy whines a bit and opens his eyes and looks around. He sees he's home and smile when he sees his brother.  
"Sabo..!" He starts crying again so you put him down and he runs over and hugs the blond. Ace comes into the room from the stairs and stares at Luffy. He opens his mouth to say something but it just comes out gibberish, he shuts up and walks over and hugs the boy. You smile at the sight of them.

"Luffy..!?" Shanks says from the dining room surprised and walks over to the boy and looks at him.  
"You okay? Where were you?" He asks, Luffy looks over at you and you smile.  
"A scary guy grabbed me…but then (Name) came and took me away from him…he said he was going to kill me and Ace…but (Name) gave him money so he wouldn't…" He says, Shanks looks over at you and motions for you to step outside. You walk onto the porch and a minute later he does to.

"Doflamingo?" He asks and you nod wordlessly. You hear him take a deep breath while you just stare at the street in front of the house.  
"How much?" He asks after a few minutes of silence.  
"Four….hundred thousand…"You say quietly, you hear him choke slightly.  
"Four hundred thousand!?" He gasps, looking at you surprised.

"He was paid to kill both Ace and Luffy…"You say quietly, Shanks falls silent for a moment, you could feel a pressure coming from him.  
"Don't do anything stupid." You whisper quietly, you hear him take a deep breath. You don't need to see his face to know how pissed he was right now. You felt a little dizzy.  
"You're going to make me faint if you don't stop…" You gasp, falling over. He catches you and immediately the pressure disperses.  
"Sorry…"He says while holding you upright. You were to close for comfort, after what happened with Law it made you more uncomfortable than usual. But you were too tired to push away.

You close your eyes and take deep breaths, trying to steady yourself. The pressure and tension you felt while dealing with Doflamingo was gone, and now you were left exhausted.  
"I need a nap…" You confessed. You hear him chuckle lightly beside you.  
"Alright let's get you inside…" He says walking you to the front door. You almost trip while walking inside, all three boys look at you startled.

"(Name)!? Are you okay?" Luffy asks while running up to you. You give him a small smile and make your way over to the couch, plopping onto its plush surface.  
"I need a nap…"You sigh, closing your eyes while turning so you laid on your back. You felt something crawl on top of you and lay on your stomach. Opening your eyes you look down at Luffy who closed his eyes and was trying to fall asleep. You moved closer to the back of the couch and then felt someone move and lay beside you, looking over you see Sabo. You hear Shanks laughing softly as someone squeezes between the back of the couch and Luffy, effectively laying on top of you. You sigh again and close your eyes.

"I guess everyone needs a nap…" You yawn softly, feeling someone sit next to your head. Looking up at Shanks who just pats the top of Luffy's head before leaning back and closing his eyes while crossing his arms.

"Good nap." You said softly, earning a slight chuckle.


	29. Trying 29: Eustass Kid

You woke up to the sound of your smoke alarm a few hours later. Jolting awake at the piercing notes that the circular alarm make, you jump off the couch and look around wildly. You run into the kitchen when you smell smoke and see the boys scrambling around with a frying pan, whatever is in it is burnt to a crisp.

"What the hell!?" You gasp grabbing the pan from Ace, who had pulled it off the stove. You nearly scream at how hot it was and drop it into the sink.

You pull your hands close to you and bend over, oh god that hurts.  
"(Name)!?" You heard the boys gasp and run up to you. You were squeezing your eyes shut, you burnt them pretty good.  
"Oooww…." You gasp, opening your eyes and looking at the palms of your hands. They were already blistering, that's not good. You looked around and saw the boys were upset.

"Hey hey, it's alright!" You give them a huge smile, cringing and walking over to the sink and turning on the cold tap.  
"Uh…Grab my phone it's in my pocket, go through my contacts and ask Law if there is any good home remedies for burns…" You instruct, you feel one of the kids reach into your pocket and grab your phone. You keep your hands under the cool water, sighing with relief.  
"I'm sorry…" You hear Luffy say, you look over at him and see him starting to get more upset.  
"It's alright, what were you doing?" You ask him, Sabo starts talking in the background, considering the way he's talking you assume it's to Law.

Luffy looks at the burnt mess in the sink.  
"We were making dinner…" He starts, poking a burnt mush with his fingers.  
"But it was cooking slowly so Ace used his fire…Sabo said it was cooking to fast but Ace just shrugged and then it caught fire. Sabo used his power to put it out, Ace grabbed the pan and freaked out when the alarm went off…" Luffy said, you looked at Ace who had walked up to the other side of you and was staring at your hands. You look at his and frown, right fire kid, he doesn't get burned.  
"It was probably safer letting you hold the pan huh?" You joked lightly, he glares up at you and huffs.  
'Well obviously.' His expression says, you just laugh nervously. Sabo walks over to you and put ths phone next to the sink.  
"Says to keep it under cold water, and if you have anything for burns put it on, otherwise go get some." He says, you sigh. You didn't have anything for burns.

"Say, do you guys want to go on a little errand for me?" You ask them, giving each of them a big smile. They nodded and you remove your hands from under the water.  
"My wallet in on the couch. Grab a few hundred beli and walk to the store and grab some cream for burns okay?" You say and they nod quickly and run into the living room. You sigh and put your hands back under the water. Stay safe guys…

The boys run out of the house, Sabo holding onto the beli. Sabo suddenly stops and turns around.  
"Luffy! Stay here." Sabo says, stopping the younger boy. Luffy looks up at him confused and slightly irritated.  
"But..!" He starts but Sabo shakes his head.  
"Someone needs to watch (Name) so I'll leave her with you." He says grinning, Luffy stops and thinks for a moment before grinning and running back to the house.  
"Okay!" He says before disappearing into the house. Sabo turns back around and see's Ace staring at him. Sabo looks away and grins sheepishly.

"I just want to know where he is…" Sabo admits, Ace nods wordlessly and starts to run in the direction of the store. They didn't want a repeat of earlier today. They continued running down a set of streets until they reached the store. Ace enters first and looks around. There were lots of shelves that were a lot taller than he was, walking up to one he sees a bunch of magazines. He frowns at them, this isn't what he needs.

Sabo enters a minute later and looks around, frowning at Ace who was looking at the magazines.  
"What are you doing?" He asks, Ace turns around and grabs one of the magazines and point at it.  
"Y doeth the not have any clotheth?" He asks, his speech has progressed from gibberish to a lisp. Sabo walks up and looks at it, none of the other magazines were like this one.  
"I don't know, it's weird…" He says, but before he can take it and open it a store clerk grabs it, his face red.  
"You shouldn't be reading things like this! What do you need!?" He asks, rolling the magazine up and putting it behind him, Ace and Sabo frown up at him.

"We need burn cream." Ace says, Sabo snickers slightly.  
"That's the first normal sentence you've said…"He giggles, Ace glares at him.  
"Thut up." He says, cursing his lisp. Sabo just grins and looks back towards the clerk who walked away and down one of the isles. He follows the clerk into an isle full of over the counter medicine. The clerk is looking at a few tubes of creme on the shelf, Sabo walks over and peeks up at them, the clerk looks down at him.  
"How bad are the burns?" He asks, Ace walks over and looks at the tubes.  
"The grabbed a pan that wath burning." He says, the clerk looks back at the cream laughing.

"She's that bad of a cook?" He asks, Sabo laughs while Ace looks at the floor.  
"No, only Ace is." Sabo says right before being smacked on the back of the head by Ace.  
"Thut the fuck up." He hisses before crossing his arms and huffing, the clerk laughs again and chooses a cream.  
"Here, this will do." He says walking up to the counter. Just as he steps behind the counter a man enters the store, Ace looks over and quickly grabs Sabo and pulls him back. Sabo was about to argue until he saw the man, the both of them went and hid behind one of the shelves.

Ace and Sabo peeks from behind the shelves to look at the tall man who entered, he was pale and had extremely red hair. This man was notorious, he was a Mafioso like Law, and also like Law he made his group in the last five years.

"Heeeeeeeey Sam." The man says walking over to the counter, the clerk pales and backs away. The red head smirks.  
"Kid…Eustass…Kid…"Sabo gasp quietly, both him and Ace move even further away.  
"Where's my money?" Kid asks leaning on the counter, the clerk stutters and stumbles away from the man, earning a dark chuckle from the red head.

Someone else enters the shop, but neither Ace nor Sabo move to see who, what have they gotten into now..!?


	30. Trying 30: Chopper Man and old friends

You looked behind you when Luffy enters the kitchen. You look at him confused, but at the same time your happy to see him, after all you had to face Doflamingo to get him back.  
"Luffy-tan?" You said, your old speech habit slipping though, you bit your lip when he looks at you confused.  
"-tan?" he echoes, tilting his head to the side. You smile at him.  
"It's a thing I use to say a lot when I was younger…kinda like how Law says –ya." You explained, he looks more confused.  
"-ya?" He echoes again, you giggle at him.

"Why are you here Luffy?" You ask him and he grins at you.  
"I'm here to keep an eye on you! So you don't clumsily hurt yourself more!" He declares, putting his hands on his hips. You nearly trip over yourself while walking to the other side of the kitchen to grab some rags. You look over at him and pout.  
"Luuuuffyyyy…meanie…" You whine lightly, he just giggles and runs over to you and helps you balance yourself.  
"See, you need someone to help you!" He says while grabbing the rags you were reaching for. You smile at him and sigh.

"Alright alright…put some ice in those I'll use them so I don't have to stand at the sink…" You instruct, Luffy does as told and hands you the cold rags, you sigh contently when you put them on your burnt skin.  
"I've been getting hurt a lot sense you three moved in. ~" You joke lightly. He gives you a slight pout before grinning.  
"It's because you're clumsy!" He says, making you pout at him again. He just laughs at your expression before running into the living room. You followed him and see him plop down onto the couch. He grins at you and pats the area next to him.  
"Let's watch cartoons!" He cheers, grabbing the remote off the floor. You sigh at the empty space in the center of the room.

"We really need to get a new coffee table…I should call Shanks then…" You chuckle to yourself before sitting on the couch. Luffy turns on the TV and changes the channel and laughs while clapping his hands.  
"Chopper Man!" He laughs while the reindeer flies around on the screen. You giggle at his reaction and lean back while holding the icy rags.  
"Wish I had such a cute show like this when I was a kid…" You sigh watching the cliché plotline for the episode. Your mind wonders while Luffy gets drawn in by the show, I wonder how the other two are doing..?

Ace and Sabo bite back a scream as Kid pulls out a gun and points it at the clerks head.  
"Money. Now." He demands, a dark grin on his face. The clerk put up his hands and shook his head.  
"W-we haven't had any customers in the last few hours..! S-so the register is empty!" He says opening the metal contraption. Inside its drawers were a bit of dust and some cobwebs. Kid growls impatiently.

"You've had more than enough time..." He growls, putting his finger on the trigger. The shop keeper panics.  
"P-please wait…" He said pointing at the shelves where Ace and Sabo were hiding.  
"T-those two kids brought money with them to buy some burn cream…!" He gasps, trying to get away from the bottom of the barrel. Kid glances over in the direction of Ace and Sabo and sees them peeking around the corner.

"Oh..?" He muses, turning around and signaling to the other person who entered. Ace backs away, pulling Sabo with him. But when he was about to turn and run for it someone grabs him.  
"Let me go..!" He yells kicking at the person holding him. Sabo turns around and gasps, there was a man with a mask holding Ace. The guy grabs Sabo's arm with his other hand while holding up Ace, he then carries the two over to the counter. He drops them and Ace tries to punch him but Sabo just holds him back.  
"Hey kids." Kid says pointing over to the clerk.  
"Where you about to buy something? Well, go ahead." He says moving to the side a bit. Ace glares at the mask man as Sabo pulls out the beli and places it on the counter. The clerk stares at it, shaking violently.

"Well…?" Kid smirks while crossing his arms across his chest. The clerk hesitantly takes the money and hands Sabo the cream.  
"Let's go Ace…" Sabo says tugging at the older boy's shirt. Ace stops glaring at the masked guy and walks over to the entrance. Both boys were about to take a step outside when they hear a gunshot. They freeze and turn around in time to see the clerk fall to the ground. Kid lets out a harsh laugh.  
"Ah well he lied~ He said he had no customers in the last few hours." He laughs while the masked man sighs.  
"Kid." He says, the red head looks at him.  
"Ah right." He says while grabbing the money, he turns to leave and sees the two boys standing there. He smirks and walks over to them.

"Your still here?" He muses, the boys jump back and run out the door leaving the red head laughing at them.  
"Come on Killer, it's been awhile sense I've been home. Let's go see my old friend…" He hums walking outside, Killer follows behind him and sighs.  
"The guy or the girl?" He asks earning a tsk from the red head.  
"Don't even mention him. Her. Obviously." He answers while walking towards a set of motorcycles parks next to the entrance.

"Won't she be surprised~…"


	31. Trying 31: Kid problems

You fidgeted with the icy rags in your hand while Luffy jumps on the couch as the Luffy Bomber shows on the screen, you looked at it then at Luffy. They were similar, for some reason. Luffy copies the movement the robot makes and you giggle. He can be so adorable.

You were about to tell him to stop jumping on the couch when the other two bust through the door, both of them pale and shaking. They don't even close the door they run straight to you and jump on your lap. You look at the two of them startled. You ask them what was wrong but they were both shaking and stuttering so much you couldn't understand them, Ace's lisp didn't help.

"Boys what are yo-"You were trying to ask them what was going on when you heard a motorcycle enter the driveway. You look at the door and see a familiar bike, one you haven't seen in years.  
"Oooh…God…" You whisper. You grab the remote and turn off the TV, earning a glare from Luffy but your expression shuts him up immediately.  
"Upstairs NOW!" You yell, all three boys jump and look at you surprised, you give them a terrified look.  
"No matter what you hear you don't come down those steps. Not until I say it's okay!" You hiss, pushing them to the steps. They run up the steps and you hear them pile into one room. You walk over to the front door just as Kid reaches the door.

"(Name)!" He greets, smirking at your tense response to his arrival.  
"Kid-tan." You said, earning a glare from the man.  
"I Said not to call me that." He says, pushing past you and into the house, he looks around and spots the wooden train that you gave to Ace.  
"What's with the toys?" He asks, noticing an action figure for the Luffy Bomber on the floor next to the couch.

"I baby sit." You lied, the red head turns to you and glares.  
"Don't lie to me woman. I saw them run into the house." He hisses, you glare at him.  
"Why are you here kid?" You asked him, he just shrugs and plops down on the couch, Killer walks in a moment later and gives you a nicer greeting and takes a seat on the couch, but closer to the door.

"How many men did you fuck while I was gone, how many you got?" He asks, leaning over and looking up the steps.  
"None." You said, you couldn't tell him about your relationship with Law so you lied.  
"But I adopted three." You admit, Kid gets up and walks over to the steps.  
"Three..?" He muses before turning back to you.

"Did you plan on asking me permission first?" He asks, walking over to you. He leans dangerously close to your face, but you don't move away. He smirks at you and pushed you against the wall next to the entertainment center.  
"I figured that you disappearing meant you didn't plan on following through with it." You said calmly, referring to the deal his parents made with the lady at the orphanage. Kid gives you a shrug.  
"Well I'm here now aren't I?" He says leaning forward, his nose almost touches yours, but before he can say anything else someone punches him in his side. He looks down at an angry Sabo, you look at him in both surprise and horror, and you quickly grab the kid and take him to the steps before Kid retaliates.  
"Upstairs. Now." You said, giving him a pleading look. He gives you a worried look and you hand him your phone, he looks at it and then back at you before running up the steps.

"That little shi-" He starts to go over to the steps but you step in front of him, using your body to push him back, he looks down at you.  
"Sorry about that, he might have thought you were going to kill me, and considering half your choices I wouldn't be surprised if you did." You stated, he smirks down at you.  
"Well he did see me shoot the clerk." He hums, you cringe. That's why they were freaking out.  
"So what have you been doing without me?" He asks looking down at you, you try to keep your expression neutral but it was obvious you were worried.

"Why are you back Kid…" You whisper, you were worried. He pauses for a moment, his smirk never leaving his lips.  
"I heard a few nasty rumors about you while I was gone.." He mutters while grabbing your arm harshly and pushing you against the closet door next to the stairs.  
"Heard you started dating him." He says, you knew who he was referring to but you shook your head.  
"That's not true…" You said and his smirk faltered slightly, a dangerous look in his eyes.  
"I have proof (Name)…" He says lowly, a deep growl escaped his throat. You shuddered at leaned away from him, pressing yourself against the wall. He reaches into his fur coat with one arm and pulls out a stack of photos that were tied together with a rubber band. He moves away from you and throws them against your chest. You catch them and look at the first photo, it was of you and Law two years ago.

"We broke up…" You whispered, your voice was weak and your heart ached at the sight of these photos.  
"Didn't think I'd keep an eye on my fiancé while I was gone?" He asks harshly, you cringed at that word. Both of you didn't choose this, but he went along with it, why not? A ninetailed fox girl, a powerful woman she would become. You drop the photos and look up at him.  
"We did break up though." You said, trying to calm him down. He glares at you and pushes you against the door again.  
"Are you sure? I hear he's been coming around more often lately…" He says, you try to shrug and look indifferent about it.  
"I've been having problems and he's been helping me…" You yelp as he pushed you harder against the door making your shoulders hurt.  
"He's still my friend..!" You gasp, Kid backs off and you fall to the floor. You wrap your arms around your chest and look up at Kid who just smirks at you.

"You wouldn't have problems if you didn't have these kids…" His expression darkens and he turns and walks up the steps.  
"Kid!" You screamed at him, he ignores you and keeps climbing the steps.


	32. Trying 32: Kid's relaxor

"Kid…" You begged him, he stops and looks back at you, a slight frown on his lips. You didn't want to have to force him, but you would if he didn't stop. He sighs and walks back down to you and sits next to you on the steps. You look at him mildly surprised.  
"Sorry." He mutters so quietly you almost didn't hear him. You open your mouth to say something but nothing comes out, did he just apologize.  
"Being back here brought back feelings from when I was younger, old habits came back I guess…" He shrugs and you frown at him.  
"You…" You growled at him and he gives you a playful smirk.  
"So…" He starts, ignoring the anger boiling from you.  
"Did you miss me?" He laughs when you try to smack him, he catches your arm and pulls you onto his lap.

"Ah…you calmed down…good to see she still has that effect on you." You hear Killer comment and you sigh, you were the only one that seemed to calm him down if you asked him too. Kid huffs and wraps an arm around your waste while using the other one to prop him up as he leans on the steps, he glances over his shoulder at the three boys at the top of the steps and smirks.

"Hey kiddos." He says while giving them a slight wave with his hand that's propping him up. You try to wiggle away from Kid but his grip on you tightens. He gives you a look that makes you stop and look down at your hands. You hear someone come down the steps and you look up at Luffy who is walking towards Kid. Kid looks at Luffy with a neutral expression. Luffy reaches the two of you and looks at you nervously, you reach out to him and he jumps into your arms. Kid lets out a low chuckle at this.

"Looks like the kids like you. How long have you had them?" He asks, you think for a moment and sigh.  
"It feels like a long time because of everything that has happened, but it's only been a week…" You said, amazed at how much can happen in the span of eight days. Kid hums and pokes Luffy's cheek with his hand that isn't holding you.  
"So what's been happening, aside the whole…Law business…" He says, hissing out Law's name. You sigh at this, they never got along and was always fighting, you swore that one day you'd find out one would have killed the other. It hasn't happened yet but you feel like it will one day.  
"Well…Ace ended up in the hospital because of some boys with brooms with nails in the handles…it's why he has a lisp right now…" You said, Kid looked up the steps and eyed the other two.  
"Which one is Ace?" He asks, Ace walks down the steps and glares at Kid.  
"Me." He states calmly before crossing his arms. Kid huffs and smirks at the boy.  
"Spunky." He muses before turning back to you.

"Sabo's parents tried to have all three of them taken away. Turns out they are real bastards…" You huff, hugging Luffy. Kid looks up the steps and at Sabo.  
"I assume your Sabo then." He says, Sabo walks down the steps and stands next to Ace with a frown on his face. He says nothing. Kid shrugs and looks back at you and you sigh. You cringe slightly while brushing back Luffy's hair, Kid notices this and grabs your hands.  
"Ah shit…"He mutters when he sees the burns. Sabo gasps and reaches into his pocket and hands you the cream. Kid takes it and takes the top off and puts the cream on your hands, rubbing it in with his fingers.

"How'd this happen?" He asks, and you give him a slight smile.  
"Kid's tried to make me dinner and burnt it…" You laughed slightly and Kid just bursts out laughing.  
"And let me guess you just grabbed the pan without thinking?" He says and you scowl at him, only making him chuckle at you some more. All three kids look confused at Kid's sudden change in personality, you see this and sigh.  
"Don't worry guys it still confuses me too…just call him bipolar and shrug it off." You wave your hand around with a small shrug and Kid stops laughing and glares at you. You laugh nervously and hug Luffy again.

"Anyways today, Doflamingo kidnapped Luffy…" You said. You felt Kid tense at that man's name.  
"Ah fuck…(Name)…" He says looking at the kid in your arms.  
"How did you get him back…?" He asks and you sigh.  
"Remember that money account you gave me and told me to do whatever with but I stubbornly said I would never use…?" You say and he smirks at you.  
"So you used it. To pay Doffy off…" He says relaxing again. You nod, you hated to admit it but if he hadn't left you that money you would have never gotten the boy's back.

"I might need more soon though…" You said softly, Kid looks at you with a slight scowl.  
"Why?" He grunts. You look at him and frown. You lean over and whisper the name of Sabo's parents in his ear and you feel him tense again.  
"You pick fights with all the wrong people, woman." He growls, you move to get up but kid pulls you closer to him. Your frown deepens at then while Luffy just clings to you more.

"Let her go, Kid." Someone says from the front door, you pale slightly and look up at Sabo.  
"You called him..!?"


	33. Trying 33: Room

The air in the room was tense, anything you said now would not stop Kid, for one of the people he hates most in this world was standing a few feet away.  
"L-Law…" You whispered, getting up finally. Kid was so preoccupied by his glaring he didn't even notice you getting up. You place Luffy on the step and motion for the three of them to go back upstairs. They look between you and the two men, uncertain.  
"It'll be okay just go upstairs…"You said ushering them out, after a few minutes of watching the two men glare at each other they reluctantly walk up the steps and into Luffy's room. You wait a few moments before turning back to the two men.

Kid had gotten up and walked back into the living room and was standing a few feet in front of Law.  
"Law-tan…Kid-tan…"You said, reverting back to your habit. It slipped because it had been so long sense you've seen a situation like this, you go to step in between them but Killer stops you.  
"That wouldn't be a good idea (Name)…"He says, you just look between Kid and Law, the pressure in the room was about to snap.  
"If I don't do something they'll…"You start, but before you can continue Kid lunges at Law, who swiftly moves to the side. Kid quickly turns and punches Law in the jaw and sends him crashing into the dining room.

"Law..!" You scream and cover your mouth, Kid just laughs harshly and makes his way into the room.  
"Well well look who it is, the rude kid that's been sleeping with my woman." He growls and kicks at Law, who gets up and pulls out a scalpel and slices Kid's arm as he throws another punch.  
"Tsk…! You fucking.." Kid hisses and kicks Law in the stomach, you run into the kitchen with Killer and glare at the both of them.  
"Stop!" You scream, Killer grabs your arm as you try to move towards them again.  
"(Name)…" He warns as you just glare at him.

You hear Kid yell and turn to see Law had stabbed him in the shoulder with the scalpel, you gasp as Kid takes Law's head and slams it on the wall next to them.  
"Room." You hear Law mutter as the room gains a blueish tint.  
"Stop!" You scream again, moving out of Killers grip you run into the dining room and grab Kid by his hair and yank him back.  
"That is enough!" Your voice turns into a low growl as the air around you grows cold. The both of them tense and slowly turn their gaze to you. Your eyes were glowing again and you watch them look at each other before letting go of one another, slowly.  
"A-alright, (Name)…" Kid says putting his hands up and backing away from Law, he was leaning towards you slightly because you still had a firm grip on his hair. Law sits up and pulls the scalpel out of Kid's shoulder and drops it, putting his hands up with a sigh. It was never good when you got angry. Both men turn and glare at Killer who just bursts out laughing at the two of them.  
"W-whipped…" He lets out another chuckle, shutting up immediately when your gaze shifts to him.

You let go of Kid's hair and sigh, you hear the boys walk down the steps slowly and you glare at the two men in front of you.  
"There are children in this house." You said, your voice was very low and cold. Both men shared a look with each other before looking at the ground, avoiding your glowing gaze. You look to your left and see the boys peeking in from the living room and they jump back when they see your eyes. You immidiently dismiss the power and your eyes stop glowing. You look at Kid and sigh.  
"Come on let's get you cleaned up." You sigh then look at Law who is scowling at Kid.  
"You too…" You said, grabbing Law's arm, trying to pull him up. He brushes you off and stands on his own, you scowl at the both of them.  
"Your idiots." You said plainly before turning back to the kitchen.  
"Grab the first aid kit in the upstairs bathroom." You tell Killer, he turns to go but Ace runs past him and up the steps.  
"I guess he's got it…" Killer sighs and looks back at you, your hands are on your hips and you're glaring at the two men.  
"Scary woman…"Killer sighs again shaking his head. She's also a crazy woman for stepping into their fight.

Ace comes back down the steps holding the first aid box with both hands, he holds it up to you with a big grin and you smile at him.  
"Thank you Ace, nice to know some of the men in my life are helpful…" You say patting the top of his head, both Law and Kid glare at Ace who just smirks and sticks his tongue out at them. They both growl at him and he just giggles and watches you patch them up.

Law mostly patches himself up, letting you help with areas on his back he can really reach. He keeps brushing his hand on yours while you work on him, Kid huffs and crosses his arms.  
"I'm the one that got stabbed." He says, you glance at him while Law smirks.  
"You're the one that started it." You deadpanned and he looks away, scowling at the wall.  
"You're going to clean up my dining room I hope, both of you." You said, adding in the last part while looking at Law. He frowns at you as you get up and move over to Kid.

"So why's he back…?" Law asks you after a few minutes of silence. Kid glares at him.  
"I'm sitting right here..." He growls, Law ignores him and keeps his gaze focused on you, you see him smirk a bit when Kid gets angrier.  
"Law stop it please…and I'm not sure…" You admit, looking up at Kid's face while fixing up his shoulder. He shrugs, cringing and earning a light smack from you when he moves his shoulder.  
"I got called back…" He says nonchalantly, Law frowns and you sigh.  
"And what does that mean." You hear Law ask lowly. Kid smirks at him and Law scowls back.

"Meaning while I was gone they planned the wedding, it's in three weeks." He says, you freeze and glance at Law, who's eyes widen.  
"To hell it is…!" He growls, pulling you away from Kid.

Ah hell they're going to go at it again…  
"Boy's call someone else…" You said looking mostly at Sabo, assuming he still has the phone. He pulls it out and Luffy takes it, you inwardly groan. If Luffy makes a phone call there is only one person he'll call…

"I'm this close to calling the cops…" You say to Killer as you hold up your pinkie finger and Killer chuckles.  
"That would be the only way it will end well…" He admits with a shrug, you groan.  
"God help me…" You sigh as Law stands up, still holding onto your arm.

"Room."


	34. Trying 34: Deals off!

You stared at the sight in front of you. The boys equally as surprised as you were kept looking between you and the three men. You looked at the three boys and gave them a weak smile, and they just looked more confused. You turned away from them at back at the men.

Shanks was talking to the other two so lowly that you couldn't make out what he was saying, and to be honest from the expressions the other two were making, you didn't want to know.

After a few minutes Kid abruptly stands and walks out of the house, confused you start to follow him but Shanks stops you. One look from him and you were back to sitting next to the three kids, feeling like you did something wrong. The boys give you a strange look before turning back to stare at the redhead as he speaks to Law.

During their conversation about who knows what Law would glance over at the four of you and frown when he makes eye contact with you. The feeling you did something wrong worsens.  
"So..." You said while turning to the boys, they look at you and you give them a nervous grin.  
"Who wants pizza?" You ask and they all grin at you. Luffy jumps up and down and waves his hands around.  
"I do...I do!" He cheers while running over to Shanks.  
"Do you want pizza?" He asks sweetly and the redhead grins.  
"Sure!" He says and Luffy cheers. From the corner of your eye you see Ace glare at Shanks and you giggle slightly, Sabo notices as well and laughs. Ace glares at the both of you and you both look away whistling.

"What about you Mister Law?" Luffy asks while staring at Law, who takes a deep breath and glances at you. You give him a nervous smile and he sighs.  
"Sure." He says and Luffy grins, now you had to order lots of pizza! Luffy bounces over to you and grabs the bottom of your shirt and tugs it.  
"Pizza Pizza Pizza Pizza!" He cheers while tugging your shirt, Ace smacks him upside the head and he whines.  
"Oooow Why'd you do that!?" He says throwing a punch as Ace, who just hits him back.

"Uh oh.." You mutter when Luffy tackles Ace and they start rolling on the floor while punching each other. Shanks laughs at them and you throw a glare at him and he just laughs harder.  
"Ah let them go, they'll stop eventually..."He says, you glance at Sabo who shakes his head.  
"No they won't..."He sighs while watching his brothers roll around on the floor. You hum to yourself and move behind him.  
"Why don't you join in to then?" You ask and he looks up at you. He doesn't say anything so you crouch down to his height and hug him, he stares at you confused until you grin evilly. You hear Shanks snickering at your expression.

"What are you doing...?" He asks confused, you just chuckle and start to tickle him. The other two stop fighting when they hear Sabo start to laugh.  
"S-stttt-stoooooooooop!" He whines while laughing, Ace frowns at the two of you while Luffy pouts. Sabo falls over giggling and you stop, he lays on the floor laughing. Luffy runs over and tackles you and tries to tickle you, you squeal and pick him up, tickling him.  
"Ahhhh he-heeeelp!" He chokes out and Ace runs over and helps with tickling you. Shanks is holding his stomach while laughing and Law is just grinning at the four of you as all three of them tackle you.

"A-Aaaah!" You scream while laughing, grabbing onto one of them and focus on tickling them. You had grabbed Sabo again and he laughs uncontrollably and tries to wiggle away from you.  
"L-laaaaaaw heeeeelp..!" You called out to him and he just chuckles at you while shaking his head. You start laughing really hard and pull away from the three.  
"Nooooo..!" You whined as they jumped on you. Law gets up and grabs Luffy and he stretches his arms to reach you, he chuckles and tickles the small boy making him retract his arms and squeal. The other two look up surprised and you grab Ace and start tickling him. Sabo quickly moves away avoiding the both of you and runs into the kitchen, Shanks just sits on the couch laughing uncontrollably.  
"Fuck you guys are adorable..." He laughs, sitting up and taking a deep breath.

It took awhile but everyone finally calmed down enough so you could order the pizza. You watched as Luffy and Ace plays with Shanks and Sabo talks to Law. You smile at them, nice to see them getting along. Ace walks over to Sabo and Law and joins the conversation, I wonder what they're talking about?

You were about to get up and join them when your doorbell rings. You get up and walk to the door and open it, it's a little early for the pizza isn't it?

"Hiiiii (Name)..." The boys heard someone say, they look towards the door and they see you pale a bit. Law looks over at Shanks, who now looked very serious compared to a second ago.  
"Why are you here...?" They hear you ask, the boys look at each other confused. But then in clicks and Luffy starts shaking. Ace and Sabo look at him surprised when Luffy backs away towards the dining room.  
"I tried to call you but you never answered back.~" The voice says and Luffy trips into the dining room and crawls away looking terrified. Ace and Sabo glare at the man at the door. Your breath gets stuck in your throat, your phone..? You pull it out your pocket and see that it died and you feel like you could faint.

"So you see..."He starts, taking a step inside, you back up slowly and you can feel the tension in the air skyrocket.  
"They outbid you...they raised the price...to five hundred thousand beli, per boy...they even added Sabo into it..." He chuckles. You can't turn away, suddenly you couldn't move.  
"And I'm sure you don't have the money to outbid one million and five hundred thousand beli..." He continues walking fully into the house.  
"So I'm afraid our deal is now off..." He says as Luffy lets out a whimper.

"I have to kill them now!~"


	35. Trying 35: What

Everything seemed to happen in a split second, and by the time your brain registered what was going on you were thrown against the wall next to the dining room entrance.  
"(Name)!" The boys screamed while running over to you. You look up to see that Shanks was standing where you were just a moment ago and realized he threw you out the way. You cough and take shaky short quick breaths, trying to get the air back into your lungs.

Your breath slowly and steadily came back. But that was the least of your worries, your grabbed the boys and put them behind you, all three of them watched you as you stood up shakily.  
"(N-Name).." One of them sobbed while clinging to the back of your shirt. You glared at Doflamingo, but even with the man in front of him he still had that stupid grin on his lips.

"Well..." He starts, but the pressure coming from the red head in front of him makes him fall silent. A light chuckle escapes the man clad in pink feathers.  
"I didn't expect you to be here...this makes things just a tad bit complicated..." He chuckles again but backs up a bit when Shanks takes a step forward.

"(Name)..." Law whispers making you jump, when did he get right next to you? You look at him from the corner of your eye.  
"Take them upstairs." He says in a hushed whisper, Doflamingo looks over and his grin droops a bit but then perks back up.  
"Law..." He says, but the raven haired just kept his gaze on yours. You can be very stubborn, but right now wasn't the time.  
"Please..." He says finally, when you don't respond to him. Slowly you turned away from the front door and wrapped your arms around two of the three boys and lifted them up, Sabo was the one left on the ground.

"Upstairs. Now." You said, you sounded breathless but also uncharacteristically cold. The blond just nods and runs for the steps, you follow behind him. You hear something behind you but before you can turn around you hear Law again.  
"Don't turn around just get upstairs!" He says, he sounded like he was in pain. You freeze at the sound of his voice, the room gets colder.

"(N-name)?" Luffy whimpers, shaking in your arms.  
"Why are you tho cold?" Ace asks and the tension behind you rises.  
"Put them down (Name)..." You hear Shanks tell you. You slowly put the two boys down and point up the steps. At first they looked like they were about to argue back but one look at your face told them there was no room to argue. Wordlessly they walked up the steps, glancing back down at you before they walk into Luffy's room.

Slowly you turn around and stare at Doflamingo, who had Law lifted up off the ground by his neck.  
"Drop him." You said, the room's temperature slowly falling lower and lower. Doflamingo's grin never faltered, although he did lower Law a bit.  
"You think you can beat me?" He asks, almost amused by the thought. You shook your head slowly, a small frown on your lips.  
"No...but that doesn't mean I won't try." You said smoothly, Law glares at you.

"(Na-Name).." He chokes out before lifting his right arm and muttering 'Room'. The whole room gains a bluish tint and Shanks takes a step toward Doflamingo, who glances at the red head, his grin faltering slightly.  
"Shaaaanks..." He starts, dropping Law and turning to face the red head. Law pulls something out of his coat and slashes at Doflamingo, who just moves quickly out of the way with little effort. You see what's in Law's hand and frown, a scalpel.  
"This is business.." Doflamingo continues his conversation with the red head as Law mutters, 'Shambles' and tries to swipe at Doflamingo again. Law freezes suddenly and grunts, this makes Doflamingo laugh.  
"What's wrong Law? Can't move?" He asks, his grin turning into a slight smirk. Both you and shanks take another step forward and Doflamingo's expression turns into a frown for a split second. This didn't look good for him.

"Get out." Is all Shanks said and the pink feathery man frowns again, before going right back to his stupid grin.  
"Well you see..." Doflamingo starts but the doorbell rings again. Both you and Law look towards the door and both of you deadpanned.

"Did someone order p-pizza...?" The poor pizza delivery boy says from the door, sensing the tension the poor boy starts to shake. You glance at Law, a lot of the anger and tension leaves your body and you start to grin a bit. Law tries to keep a straight face but once he see's you grin he smirks a bit. This poor bastard...

You walk over to the boy and hand him the money that was on top of the entertainment center and hand it to him, he quickly hands you the pizza with the delivery bag and runs away, not even bothering to retrieve the bag. You turn and your eyes meet Laws again and you burst out laughing, forgetting all about the pink feathery man in your living room.

"Th-that poor bastard..." You gasped, Law has to cover his mouth with his hand to stop him from laughing, Doflamingo lets out a light chuckle.  
"That had to scare the shit out of him..." He laughs, all the tension completely melted away from the room. Shanks sighs at the three of you, how can you forget what was happening this quickly.

"So...who wants pizza?" You asked, holding up the pizza bag, glancing behind you you see the boy had to bring up three bags to the door, and he hightailed it afterwards, poor guy was going to get an ear full from his boss.

You hear three pairs of feet run down the steps.  
"Piiiiizzaaaaa!" They cheer, Luffy trips and crashes into Doflamingo, who barely acknowledges the kid.  
"I'd like some pizza." He says casually, both Shanks and Law deadpans, what is happening!?

"Okay boys carry this to the table!" You said, giving each of them one of the large bags, man were these kids stronger than what they should be. Both Law and Shanks look at you and you grin at them.  
"He's trying to kill your kids..." Law reminds you, you look at Doffy who shrugs.  
"I don't feel like it anymore...besides I'm rather hungry..." He answers and turns to follow after the boys. Both Law and Shanks look at each other again,

"What the fuck..." They said in union, while you and Doflamingo just laugh. The boys look at you and then back at Doflamingo, if your laughing then they guess it means it's okay now.


	36. Trying 36: Ace's pain

Everyone ate their share and left, and to be honest that was the most anti-climatic ending to such a tense event. But you weren't about to complain.

Oddly enough a month went by and there was hardly any problems, almost as if all the problems happened at one moment and now we were getting a breather. Or maybe they are just waiting for Doflamingo to actually do his job.

But even he stayed quiet, obviously preoccupied by matters he finds more interesting. Which is a great thing because if he were to ever get bored, your sons would be a time killer.

You adopted the boys back in February, but now it was March. The tenth to be more precise, and now you were coming across a new challenge, aside from the one that just happened in school a few days back.

But your first and most recent issue was...Sabo's birthday was in ten days and you forgot. That was until last night on the ninth.

Luffy walked into your room a few hours after their bed time, you were about to scold him when he gives you a super huge grin.  
"Neh neh (Name)?" He says while crawling onto your bed and sitting in front of you. You put your laptop to the side and give him a small smile.  
"What is it Luffy it's time for bed...?" You ask him and he just comes closer and whispers.  
"What are we doing for Sabo's birthday?" He asks. You freeze and stare at him...when was his birthday...?  
"E-eh...?" You mutter while trying your best to remember. You really should have memorized this what kind of parent are you!?

"It's on the 20th remember?" He says tilting his head to the side a bit, did you forget?  
"Oh..." You hummed. You barely remembered glancing at their birth certificates. You really should go make the time to remember...  
"Hmm..." You frown a bit, you have only about ten days to come up with a plan...

Luffy gives you a big grin and leans closer to you.  
"We've never been to the amusement park..!" He hints and you look down at him. All three of them would certainly enjoy that...  
"Amusement park huh...?" You hummed again with a small smile forming on your lips. Luffy looks up at you super excited and you blink at him surprised and then you start to look worried.  
"But maybe not..." You lied, he looks disappointed and it makes you feel bad. But you want it to be a surprise if you do decide to do this, and this child did not know how to keep his mouth shut.  
"Aww..." He whines and you give him a small smile.

"Don't worry about it Luffy! I'll come up with something awesome I promise!" You said and he looks up quickly and grins widely.  
"Okay..!" He says excitedly before running out of the room and out into the hall. You hear faint whispering and you realized they sent Luffy to hint where they wanted to go. You giggled softly before reaching over and turning out your light, signaling to them they should go to bed. You hear three sets of footsteps softly walk away from your door.

But aside from the birthday problem, Ace has been having issues at school. Belemere had warned you to watch Ace's temper problem. But you never really thought it would be this large of an issue.

A few weeks after Ace got well enough to go to school he made friends with a boy a grade higher than him, some kid called Marco. Well him and this boy became close friends, and fast. You even seen him around the house a few times, he just seems to come and go whenever.

Well him and Ace had been getting into arguments with boy's at school, which would end with Ace beating the crap out of those boys. You were called down to the school a few times in regards to Ace's fighting, and you begged him to not get into anymore fights. But he would just look away from you and glare at the floor or a wall behind you.

And today, the tenth, was no exception.

You got called down to the school, and in the office you see Ace sitting there with a bandage on his cheek and a few bruises on his arms. Today, instead of sitting there and listening to the principles speech on problem children you pulled Ace out of class and took him home. On the walk home he was silent, and you were a bit worried.

"Ace..." You called him softly and he glances up at you.  
"What did they say to you...?" You ask him and he looks at you mildly surprised, you never really asked what they did to him before. He looks away from you and glares at the ground.

"Do you know who my parents are..?" He asks and you think for a moment, just like the birthdays you disregarded who their parents were, you wouldn't even have known who Sabo's were if they hadn't been such assholes when you first gotten the boys.  
"Nope..." You said honestly, you see him tense a bit before falling silent. You sighed after a few minutes and looked over at him.  
"I'm guessing it has something to do with them?" You ask and he nods slowly, but otherwise says nothing.

"Who are they?" You ask and he just scowls at the ground. He comes to a complete stop and glares at his feet. He was silent for about ten minutes before you walked in front of him and crouched down to his height. You grabbed his shoulders and made him look at you. When his eyes meet yours you gave him a small smile.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine." You said. He relaxed a bit and studied your expression. After another minute he sighs. He mutters something and he looks at you, slightly expecting you to react.

"I...didn't quite catch that..." You said and he glares at you.  
"Gol D. Roger." He says a bit louder and you freeze.

Well shit.

You didn't respond for a minute, which made him look up at you sadly, before it turned into a cold glare.

"So?" You deadpanned. His eyes widen a bit and his jaw drops.  
"Y-you..." He starts, looking around him like that would give him an idea of what to say.

"You don't care?" He asks softly.  
"No not really..." You shrugged and reach out and pick him up. He grunts and tries to push you away and glares at you as you start to walk home with him in your arms.  
"Everyone else hates me!?" He says, you freeze and look at him surprised.

"Ehh...? I was under the impression you had two brothers and a friend named Marco..." You hummed thoughtfully. He glares at you and pushes himself away until he drops to the ground.  
"Why are you acting like this doesn't faze you!?" He screams, you look down at him surprised.

"Ace...?" You whispered as he starts to shake.  
"They all hate me..!" He screams while starting to shake violently.  
"The teachers all glare at me, like I'm some monster! The kids avoid me or scream at me and tell me I shouldn't exist!" He starts to cry, you were rendered speechless. This is why he was getting so angry...?

"The teachers would tell me I shouldn't have been born! I would get angry and I would melt something..! And I would beat up the kids who would insult me or my father..!" He cried, squeezing his eyes shut while facing the ground.

"All the other families abandoned me when they found out who I was..!" He sobbed.  
"They all just tell me I shouldn't have been born..!" He cries, you fall to your knees and wrap your arms around him. He tries to push you away.

"Don't lie to me and say you don't hate me..!" He screams at you, but you just pull him closer.  
"Ace.." You said softly. He pushes against your shoulder harder, punching them as hard as he could, and believe me when I say this kid was very strong for his size.  
"Everyone who finds out hates me!" He yells and you start to cry, but he doesn't see this. He hits you again and his fist catches fire, burning your shoulder.

"Ace..!" You said a bit louder but he just hits you again, burning your shoulder more. People driving by and walking by stop and scream, but you ignore them.  
"Ace!" You said loudly and he freezes and looks at your face. He gapes at the tears running down your cheeks and he starts to cry more, collapsing into your hug.

"I don't care I promise..." You said, sobbing slightly. You felt angry, not at the boy but at that school.  
"I don't care who your parents were.." You started, your voice shaking at first but becoming steady and strong as you continue.  
"Right now, at this moment. Your my son, and that's all that matters right now." You said, the boy just cries harder and you pick him up again, ignoring the pain in your shoulders. You turn around and head back towards the school. Ace sniffles and looks up at you confused, but you were just glaring straight ahead.

"We're going to pay your teachers a visit." You said calmly, but your face said you were anything but calm. You were pissed, and the whole school is about to know it.


	37. Trying 37: (Name) uses confusion!

It didn't take long for you to reach the school, and by the time you did you were beyond pissed. You put Ace down when you reach the door and he follows after you. You enter the building and one of the security officers see's Ace and frowns. Your glare immediately turns onto him. He freezes and looks up at you in shock, the air around you seemed to be getting darker and darker.

" -Lacent..." He stutters and stumbles back when you take a step forward. A voice in the back of your head told you to stop, if you make a scene it will only make things worse for him. Gritting your teeth together you grab Ace's hand and make your way towards the office. You step inside just as Lucci was about to step out.

"Ah...(Name).." He says, but stops when he see's your expression, a frown graces his lips and he looks down at Ace and notices the tear tracks on his face.  
"What happened?" He asks smoothly, you barely glance and him and walk over to the front desk, Kalifa looks up at you and see's your expression and frowns. She walks over to the desk and glances down at Ace, she too notices the tear tracks and looks back at you, her expression stoic.  
"What's wrong?" She asks.

You explain, slowly and carefully everything Ace told you. By the time you were done Lucci was tense, and was glancing at the door to the office, as if he expected one of the teachers you were talking about to come strolling unknowingly into the room. Kalifa had a neutral look on her face but a spark in her eyes told you that she understood why you were upset. And she had to agree, this would explain Ace's odd and angry behavior.

She quickly and silently walks over to the phone and makes a few hushed phone calls, and you were starting to shake.  
"(Name) your shoulders..." Lucci takes notice of the burnt clothes and skin on your shoulders but you barely noticed it, right now it was not your top priority. Someone has made your child upset, and you were very close to hunting them down and destroying them.

Ace watches you, surprised you don't hate him. Surprised you are angry for him. Surprised your standing up for him.  
"You care about me...?" He asks softly, you look down at him, your expression softens.  
"Of course..!" You said lightly, his lips tremble a bit.  
"You love me?" He asks hesitantly, his eyes watching your expression. You looked surprised and you squat down to his height and you meet his gaze with a big smile.

"Of course I love you!" You said, he looks at you surprised and he starts to tear up again.  
"I wouldn't be about to destroy this schools staff if I didn't love you!" You said, Lucci and Kalifa exchange looks, they hope your joking.

Oh but your not.

About fifteen minutes later a bell rings and you hear kids running around outside. You absently wonder where Sabo and Luffy were right now, but your attention is drawn back to the room your in when Smoker walks into the office. You stare at him confused but then glance at Kalifa, her expression tells you she called him, probably because of that threat.

"(Name)" He greets you, but you just stare at him with a blank expression and he frowns.

Yeah he can tell your pissed.

He walks over to the front desk and Kalifa explains everything you told them and by the time she was finished Smoker just grunts silently.  
"No wonder she's pissed..." He huffs, glancing over at you. He goes to pull out a cigar but Kalifa stops him.  
"No smoking on school property." She says, you and Smoker freeze and exchange a look before both of you start laughing. Lucci chuckles slightly, and a minute later Kalifa realized what she just said and who she said it to and sighs.  
"Right...Smoker..." She sighs at her own blunder.

Your laughter was short lived when three teachers enter the office, and Ace moves to your side and tenses. Your expression instantly darkened, so these were his teachers?

Smoker spots your expression and gives you a 'Cool it' look and you just growl slightly, your fruit power only making the growl more like an animal. Lucci and Kalifa exchange another look before turning their attention to the three teachers, all of which had a plastic like smile on their lips when they greet you and Ace. Their expression falters when they see your eyes and they instantly look a bit worried.

" has come here expressing great concern for her son." Kalifa says smoothly, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. The one closest to you glances at Ace and scowls.  
"What has this child lied about this time!" He growls, you instantly narrow your gaze at him and Smoker gives you a warning look.

"We have reasons to believe you are allowing children to pick at this child because of a personal subject. And reasons to believe that you personally have said something to the child." She says calmly. One of the female teachers, one with curly dark hair scoffs.  
"We only said what was true." She starts, your icy gaze turns to her and she freezes for a moment before turning to you and getting angry.

"Do you know who this child is!?" She screams, pointing her finger at Ace.  
"A child of filth! A little bastard monster!" She screams loudly, Smoker, Kalifa, and Lucci look surprised by the teachers out burst.

"He is nothing but a disgusting excuse for a human child! He should have never even been born!" She starts as you slowly stood up, the look on your face made everyone, besides the enraged teacher that was glaring at Ace, back up.  
"His father was an evil basta-" She gets cut off when your fist connects with her jaw and sends her flying back. You hear smoker sigh as he watched the woman hit the ground.  
"You really shouldn't have said that..." He sighs while watching you take a step towards the teachers.

"This child." You start, your voice dripping with so much malice it made the teachers skin crawl.  
"Is. My. Son." You said, carefully stressing those words while taking another step forward. Ace watched you, more surprised than terrified by your actions and even more surprised at your words. It was one thing to admit to him that he was your son. But you were admitting it out loud to others as well.

The teachers exchange looks before turning back to you with harsh glares.  
"He shouldn't exist! Something like him!" The man said, taking a step towards you, Smoker reaches for his weapon but then see's your expression and decides you've got this.  
"Because of his father so man-" The woman with pale blond hair starts but you growl. It was such an unearthly growl that it made all three teachers stumble back in surprise.

"I don't give a DAMN what that man did!" You screamed at them, the room was slowly getting colder. Ace gasps while watching you.  
"I don't give a DAMN what your opinions on that man's are!" You continues while taking another step. Everything in the hallway got quiet and you hear the door open.  
"(Name)?" You hear Luffy call you but you don't turn around, he must have recognized your voice.

"I don't care if that man was the most evil bastard on the planet!" You were only two feet away from the teachers now, all three of them pressed against the wall behind them.  
"I don't care if he was the FUCKING devil himself!" You screamed louder. You were stressing the cuss words but you didn't care. Luffy look so confused, and he see's Ace who had tears streaming down his cheeks, he didn't seem to realize Luffy was there.

"But." You said, pausing for a moment to look into the eyes of each of the teachers.  
"If you ever bad mouth. My. Child. Again." You said coldly, your voice lowering into a deep growl. You leaned forward, barely half a foot away from their faces.  
"I will make your life a living hell..." You said smoothly, the growls lifting from your voice as the sentence ends.

All three of the teachers pressed against the wall, the one you punched let out a light sob. You hear Smoker sigh and walk over to you.  
"I think they got the message (Name)..." He says pulling you away from them, he touches your shoulder and you let out a sharp gasp. He notices the burns and frowns before glancing at Ace who looked at your shoulders guiltily.

Luffy looked at everyone and at everything that just happened with a very large frown. You notice him and give him a weak smile, the tension fell from you almost instantly and he just crosses his arms and tilts his head to the side.  
"What the hell is going on?" He asks, Ace quickly wipes his face with the sleeves of his shirt and glares at the younger boy. Your gaze moves past Luffy and out into the hallway, everyone who was standing there moves away instantly and you give a nervous smile to Kalifa.

"I think I might have gotten a little too um..." You start but she just shakes her head.  
"No...I think what you just did was completely justified..." She shrugs while fixing her glasses. Lucci lets out a light chuckle before walking out of the room.  
"That was interesting..." He mutters before disappearing into the hall.

You glances behind you at the three teachers and they flinched back.  
"I expect you to keep an eye out for any kids who pick at Ace as well." You said coldly and they nod frantically, trying to push themselves further away from you.

"Okay then. Let's go Ace...I already pulled you out of school for the day so lets go home..." You said and Luffy whines loudly.  
"Whaaaat!? What about me!?" He says while crossing his arms. You sigh, it wouldn't be fair if you just took Ace home and just ditch Luffy...

"I'll pull out the other two I guess, they have only two hours left of school anyways.." You sigh walking back to the sign out book. Kalifa gives you a small smile while Smoker walks over to you and pokes your shoulder. You gasp, you forgot about that again.  
"Should visit the hospital.." He says, more as an order rather than suggestion. You give a nervous laugh.  
"I'll call Law instead..." You said brushing him off, Smoker frowns at you before lighting a cigar. Kalifa was about to say something but she just sighs and watches Smoker leave the room, waving his hand without turning back to face you.  
"Take care (Name)" He says disappearing into the hall.

Kalifa walks to the phone and announces that Sabo should come to the office for an early dismissal. You walk back over to Ace and sit next to him, Luffy runs over and jumps into the seat on the other side of him. You glance at Ace to find him staring at you, you give him a large smile and he blinks. A split second later his smile mirrors yours. You pull him into a half a hug by hugging him with one arm and Luffy looks at the two of you confused. You laugh at his reaction and reach over and pull him into the hug. He doesn't seem to know what's going on but he hugs the both of you anyways.

Sabo walks in a minute later and see's the three of you and looks at you guys confused. What the hell did he miss?


	38. Trying 38: Why isn't she your mom?

There was two days until Sabo's birthday and Sabo, unfortunately, got sick.

You woke up like usual and woke up the boys. But when you got to Sabo, who was normally awake by the time you woke the other two, he was still fast asleep. You walk over silently and shake him lightly. He groans and opens his eyes slowly, just from his expression you can tell something was off.

"Sabo...?" You call out to him while brushing some of his hair out of his face, looks like it might need to be cut soon. You fingers brush against his forehead and you recoil in shock, it was really hot.  
"Ooh no..." You said as he moves away from your hand, to him you felt really cold. He looks at you and lets out a weak cough, you take his blanket and cover his completely so that his face was the only thing you could see. He shivers into the blanket and coughs again while squeezing his eyes shut. You decide he was in no condition to go to school and leave the room to let him rest.

You make your way downstairs and into the kitchen to find the other two eating very large bowls of cereal. You look at the two empty cereal boxes and then back at the boys and frown.  
"Seriously?" You said while motioning to the discarded boxes. Both raven haired boys look at you with milk dripping off their chin.  
"What?" They ask, Luffy spits out a little milk. You sigh and grab the paper towels and clean up their mess.

"Where's Sabo?" Luffy asks after he finishes downing his milk that was left in the bowl. You walk over to him and grab his chin and make him look at you as you wipe off his face with a paper towel. He wiggles away from you with a glare and you give him a small grin.  
"He's sick." You told them, Ace stops drinking his milk and looks over at Luffy. The both of them hop out of their chairs and rush upstairs. You sighed and cleaned up the rest of their mess.  
"You guys have school!" You reminded them as you washed their bowls. You hear Luffy groan and smile slightly.

After coaxing them out of Sabo's bedroom you took them to their bus stop and both of them glanced in the direction of the house every once in awhile.  
"He'll be okay.." You kept telling them, but they would just exchange glances and sigh. Eventually the bus arrived and the two were off to school. You watched the bus turn around the corner before you turned and walked back to the house. You hummed to yourself as you make your way up the driveway, what did they do at school anyways?

-Luffy-

Ace pushes ahead of Luffy and takes a seat next to a blond with pineapple hair. Luffy sighs a bit before pushing further into the back of the bus and takes his seat next to a boy with a long nose. The boy looks over and frowns at Luffy's sad expression.

"What's wrong Luffy?" He asks, bothered by his friends lack of noise. Luffy looks over at his friend and sighs again.  
"Sabo's sick..." He answers and the boy looks surprised for a moment before smiling.  
"I'm sure he'll be fine!" He says with a grin, Luffy looks at him surprised for a moment.  
"You think so?" He asks and the long nose boy nods.  
"Of course! I'm sure your mom can take care of him!" He says, Luffy frowns for a second.  
"She's not our mom, Usopp." Luffy corrects the long nose boy, Usopp.

Usopp looks surprised and tilts his head to the side a bit.  
"But I thought she was taking care of you guys like a mommy would?" He asks confused.  
"She is but...she's not related to us!" Luffy huffs.  
"So? Your brothers aren't related to you!" Someone says from behind them. Luffy turns and see's Nami glaring at him.

"Yeah...but..." Luffy says, getting a little confused.  
"Hey Ace!" Nami calls out to the freckled boy who was sitting a few seats ahead of Luffy. Ace turns around in his seat and sits on his knees while looking back at them.  
"What?" He asks with a slight scowl on his face.

"Does Ms.(Name) treat you like a your her son?" Nami asks him. The question catches the boy off guard and he falls back surprised. His face turns a bit red and his friend next to him laughs at him.  
"Why the hell are you asking that!?" Ace yells suddenly, earning a glare from the bus driver. Ace just flips him off before turning back to Nami who was giving him a disapproving look.

"Luffy says she isn't your mom." She says with her arms crossed in front of her on the back of Luffy and Usopp's seat.  
"Well she isn't..." Ace says, looking away from the orange haired girls eyes.  
"But she takes care of you like a mommy does...I heard that she almost beat your teachers up cause they made you cry!" She teases and Ace's face turns red.

"T-that doesn't make her my mom!" He yells, earning another glare from the bus driver.  
"Your brothers aren't related to you." She points out to him like she did Luffy. Ace looks away from her again and huffs.

"I-I...guess so..." He admits softly, Nami grins.  
"So then why can't she be your mommy? It can't be because you aren't related to her." She says, frowning suddenly. Both Ace and Luffy look at her.  
"Oh that's right your mom adopted you and your sister too..." Luffy says. Ace and Luffy exchange looks before Nami speaks again.

"So why isn't she your mom?" She asks again. Both Ace and Luffy fall silent. They didn't have an answer for that anymore.


	39. Trying 39: If you last three more months

You walked back into Sabo's room and looked at him for a moment.

What do you do? You hadn't been sick in awhile, and you didn't have anything for children to take. But you didn't want to leave him home alone and run to the store. You also had work today, and you weren't sure if Robin or Zoro could take your shift. Well you can at least ask, all they can say is no right? You dial Robins number.

"(Name)" She greets instantly.  
"Hey...do you know what to give kids when they are sick?" You ask her, she is quiet for a moment before you hear her chuckle.  
"Don't you have a doctor in training you can ask?" She hums and you laugh nervously.

"Sabo's sick..." You said.  
"So you need to watch him right?" She asks, already knowing what your getting at.  
"Please..." You said and you can hear her chuckle again.  
"I hope he gets better soon." She says and you sigh.  
"I'll give you 25% more for your pay this week..." You thanked her and she just chuckles and says good bye before hanging up.

You pause for a moment while staring at your phone. It had been awhile sense you called Law. After that kiss and the whole Doflamingo issue you had secretly, or not so secretly, been avoiding most of his text messages. He gave up around a week ago, you look at his last message and it makes you look at the screen sadly.

"I'm sorry..."

Was the last message he sent, and since then there hasn't been a word. You wanted to punch yourself for being so mean, but every time you tried to send a message you felt awkward. You let out a silent sigh and dial his number, holding your breath as it rings.

"Hello, you've reached Trafalgar Law's personal cell. Leave a message if it's important, otherwise don't bother me. And Bepo stop leaving a message saying I'm sorry, for apologizing for almost leaving a pointless message. That's pointless too. And don't apologize for this!"

The phone beeps and you start to giggle.  
"That was an interesting voice mail message you have there Law." You start, you fall silent for a moment before sighing.  
"Look I want to talk...I hate how I only seem to call when I need you, like right now. And it makes me feel bad..." You sigh again, falling silent.  
"Sabo's sick and I don't know what to do..." You sigh once more before leaning against the door frame of the blonds room, looking at the sleeping boy.  
"And I want to apologize I wanted to talk to you but I didn't know what to say...I still don't..." You admitted, scratching the back of your head nervously.

"So...call me back? I mean..if it's not to much trouble...I can just ask someone else.." You whisper the last part, not even sure the phone picked it up.  
"I guess I'd rather it be you anyways..." You whisper that part, half hoping that doesn't pick up. Your heart rate quickens and you wish you could take that back.  
"So um...later!" You said quickly and hung up, you wanted to punch yourself you felt so stupid.  
"God I feel like a highschooler again..." You whine to yourself before walking over to Sabo.

You brush some of his hair out his face and look back down at the phones screen, you hope Law will help you, you don't like the painful look Sabo has on his face.

-Luffy-

Luffy and Usopp got off the bus and made their way into the blue bell building. Luffy was deep in thought, which wasn't normal for the normally talkative hyper boy. When he got to his class and sat at his desk quietly his teacher became slightly worried, this was very unusual.

"Luffy?" She calls him and he looks up at her as she crouches down to his height.  
"Is something wrong?" She asks him, and Luffy frowns up at her.

"Is it okay to call (Name) my mom?" He asks. The teacher tilts her head to the side a bit surprised.  
" ?" She asks and Luffy nods.  
"Well she does raise you, and loves you, and plays with you right?" She asks and Luffy smiles and nods.  
"So the question is Luffy...what is a mother to you?" His teacher finishes and Luffy stares down at his table.

For most of the morning Luffy was completely silent, most of his classmates glanced at him and wondered if he was sick. But Luffy didn't pay attention to them, he was more focused on that question.

What was a mommy to him?

-Ace-

Like Luffy, Ace spent most of the morning completely silent. His teachers avoided him like the plague, which was fine with him. It was better than what they were doing to him before.

He smiles slightly, remembering what you did for him. It was even the first time you outright said he was your son. And part of him felt happy. But...Even though you said he was your son, he hadn't said you were his mother. They never really stayed with an parent for more than three months...

Ace looks up at the board as his teacher on and on about math. He scowls at the teacher and then takes a deep breath. He's made his decision.

He would give you three months...if you last longer than that then...

He felt hopeful for a moment but instantly he began to build up his emotional defenses. He glares at the teacher as he writes down the answer to the problem he wrote up a few minutes ago.

He shouldn't feel hopeful, after everything that's already happened, surly you were getting tired of them by now.


	40. Trying 40: one out of three approves

It was a little after lunch when your cell rang. You picked it up as you climbed the steps back towards Sabo's room.

"Hello?" You said into the phone, you didn't check your caller ID.  
"You should learn to use this thing called a caller ID, (Name)." Kid says and you sigh.  
"If I did I wouldn't have answered the phone." You remarked and you hear him chuckle.  
"Your so nice..." He hums as you enter Sabo's room.

You look down at the sick boy and brush your fingers across his forehead. He whimpers slightly and snuggles more into his blankets.  
"One of the boys is sick, what do you want Kid?" You said weakly, watching the child suffer made you hurt. Kid could tell because he falls silent for a moment.

"Which one? The one with the lisp?" He asks, you sigh.  
"The lisp was temporary...he's better now, and no that was Ace. The blond one is sick, Sabo." You said.  
"Ah..." Was all he says before you hear someone talking to him in the background.

"I was hoping we could talk longer but it seems I have to go." He says, his tone very serious.  
"Everything okay?" You ask him, yes you had a major issue with him but he was still your friend. You hear a dark chuckle come from his side.  
"Everything is fine, it's not me with the problem anyways." He says right before hanging up. You look at the phone confused before shrugging it off.

You were half tempted to call Law again, but you knew better than to repeatedly bug him. He would call you on his own time, probably.

-Luffy-

"Lunch isn't big enoooough..." Luffy whines at his empty tray, which only a few minutes ago had an average sized meal on it. Usopp glances at Luffy's tray and gapes at it.  
"S-So fast..!" He says in shock. Nami huffs and throws and apple at him, which he happily catches with his mouth.  
"You eat to much!" She says accusingly. Luffy just shrugs while eating his apple and looking longingly at Usopp's sliced peaches. The long nose boy pulls the fruit cup close to his chest as his rubber friend pouts at him.  
"Mine!" He says turning away from Luffy who just huffs and puts his head on the table as his stomach growls.

"Luffy." He hears his name being called and looks up, his teacher was behind him and giving him a small smile. She hands him a few fruits and squats down to his height at he cheers and digs into on orange with his fingers, tearing off the skin.  
"Did you think of an answer Luffy?" She asks him, Luffy pauses for a moment, and stares at the orange thoughtfully.  
"Yep!" He answers finally after a moment of silence. His teacher smiles at him and pats him on the top of the head and stands up.  
"Okay, that's good!" She says before wandering off to another table where another student was calling her.

"What answer?" Nami asks as Luffy pops an orange slice into his mouth.  
"What is a mommy to me?" He says more as an answer rather than a question. Nami tilts her head to the side.

"What is a mommy to you?" She asks him curiously, Usopp opens his peaches and pops one in his mouth while watching his friend pause and stare at his orange again.

"Someone who loves me...takes care of me...saves me from a pink feathery guy who kidnaps me...takes care of my brothers when they are hurt or sick...beat up mean teachers when they hurt us...and someone that feeds us!" He says, listing things off with his fingers. Usopp and Nami exchange skeptical looks, some of those things were a bit over the top. Luffy gives his two friends a very large grin before popping another orange slice into his mouth.

-Ace-

Ace had lunch after Luffy, so at the moment he was still in class.

Him and his friend Marco were talking silently in the back of the class, his teacher would glare at the two of them, but when they make eye contact with Ace they look fearful and turn away. Ace smirks every time it happens. Marco takes note of his smirk and glances at the teacher as he cowers away from the boy's stare.

"Is your mom that scary-yoi?" He asks, Ace glares at him.  
"Not my mom yet, and yeah (Name) can be really scary..!" He says with a grin. Marco laughs loudly, which turns into a soft chuckle when the teacher turns and glares at him.  
"Hey, think she'll let me stay over tonight-yoi?" He asks, Ace thinks for a moment and shrugs.  
"I dunno, it's not like you have someone at home to tell you that you can't." Ace says with a yawn. Marco frowns at this for a split second before grinning.  
"Then I'll just walk in and stay, maybe she won't ask-yoi?" He jokes and Ace frowns a bit, probably...

"Careful or she'll drag you in too!" Ace jokes, Marco just laughs again, falling into silent laughter when the teacher once again glares at him.  
"Then maybe she can beat up the teacher for glaring at me so much-yoi!" He says as the teacher turns back around to the board. Ace snickers at his friends teacher issues.  
"Pops wouldn't be happy if you left home to live with a lady so she can beat up your teachers.." Ace says and Marco sighs.  
"True-yoi." He shrugs and leans back with a yawn.

"I was hoping to go over to your place today..." Ace sighed and Marco glances at him.  
"Alright, although it's not as clean and neat as your's-yoi." Marco teases Ace, who just glares at the blond.  
"What's his opinion on (Name) anyways?" Ace asks quietly, Marco frowns and stares at the board with a thoughtful expression.

"Ask him yourself-yoi." He says just as the lunch bell rings. The class grabs their things and rush out the room, Ace rushes to the lunch room with Marco not far behind him. While they were in line Ace thinks about you and the three months he's giving you. He pauses in line for a moment and glares at the ground, a scowl on his lips.

He sorta wonders how Pops would react if (Name) actually becomes his mother in his eyes...well...he'll find out eventually...


	41. Trying 41: We need to talk

It was almost time for the boys to return home when your phone rang again, this time it was a number you recognize but it has been awhile since you've seen it.  
"Bepo?" You said surprised as you answer the phone.  
"Hi (Name)." He greets, it's been awhile since you've spoken to the bear. You were silent for a moment before frowning at the phone.  
"Uh Bepo..?" You said again, he gasps.  
"Oh right..I'm sorry.." He says and you laugh, same ol' bear.

"Have you seen Law?" He asks and you freeze.  
"Law?" You ask him and he repeats the question and you bite your lower lip.  
"I've been calling him but he hasn't answered..." You admit and you hear Bepo sigh.  
"He hasn't been answering me either..." He admits and the both of you fall into a worried silence.

"Have you heard from Kid?" Bepo asks finally and you frown at this.  
"Yeah I have, earlier today. He left the conversation suddenly, said he had something to do. Sounded like he was about to cause trouble again." You said, then you freeze for a moment. Kid wouldn't...he didn't...

"Do you think...?" You start as Bepo falls silent.  
"Maybe...it's not...I don't...I'm sorry." He says before hanging up on you. You stare at your phone for a moment before dialing a number.

"(Naaaame)?" You hear Shanks slur you name and you sigh.  
"Are you drunk?" You said in such a serious tone that he instantly falls silent.  
"What's wrong this time?" He asks and everything on his end falls silent.  
"Have you seen Law?" You ask him and he hums silently.  
"No. Why?" He asks and you fill him in on the phone call with Bepo and Kid.

"Would Kid be dumb enough to piss you off..?" Shanks jokes and you growl.  
"I can't go find out, Sabo is sick. I've been trying to call Law for help cause I don't know how to take care of a sick kid..." You sigh into the phone, glancing at the stairs.  
"Ehh...you could just google it?" Shanks says and you freeze. That was true...

"Sh-shut up..." You said with a sigh and he laughs.  
"Didn't think of that did you?" He asks and you sigh again.  
"But Law..." You said and it was his turn to sigh.  
"I'm sure he's fine...As for Kid I think I need to pay him a visit anyways...Lately he has been messing around in both mine and Whitebeards territories..." He says absently and you tense. What the hell has Kid been doing..!?

"So relax, help your kid. Talk to you later~" He hums into the phone before hanging up. You look at the clock on the wall above the entertainment center and sigh. It was time to pick up the boys. But before you leave your phone rings again. It's a number you don't recognize.

"Hello?" You say into the phone as you answer.  
"Ms. Lacent?" A deep voice answer you and you confirm that it was, in fact, you that answered the phone.  
"Who is this?" You ask before letting the conversation continue. This earns a chuckle from the other end.

"Whitebeard." He says and your jaw drops. This timing...  
"Ace wants to talk to you." He says before you hear the phone get passed around.  
"(Name)!" Ace says and your heart skips a beat.

"Ace?" You said surprised and you hear him huff.  
"Yeah it's me, I'm over at Marco's place!" He says and you frown slightly, something might be going on and he's not anywhere near you.  
"Luffy said he's going over to Usopp's so you don't have to pick us up!" He says and your stomach drops.

"Can I speak to Whitebeard again please?" You ask him and you hear him say something and the phone gets passed back.  
"What?" You hear him say and you take a deep breath.  
"there is an issue going on, I don't know what it is but it might not be safe for Ace, can I assume he'll be fine where he is?" You said, swallowing your nerves. It's silent for a moment before the man speaks.  
"What kind of issues?" He asks and you have to take a deep breath. Your not good at talking to such scary people.

"Kid." Is all you say and it takes him a second to realize your talking about the red headed man.  
"What has he done this time?" He asks and you explain the conversations you had with Bepo,Kid, and Shanks. There was a moment of silence before he speaks again.  
"Yeah the boy will be fine here...if anything happens, I don't know about the other boy though. His friend lives near the terminal." He says and you flinch and cuss under your breath. You didn't know this.

"Does Ace by any chance know where Usopp lives?" You ask him, there is some talking in the background until you get an answer.  
"No he doesn't." He says and you bite your lower lip again. Dammit.

"Oh well...thank you for letting me know where Ace is and an idea of where Luffy is...Good day." You said hanging up the phone, that might not have been the best way to end a call but you didn't have time to be completely polite. You run upstairs and walk over to Sabo's bed and wake him up. He looks up at you and whines before he starts having a coughing fit. You feel bad but you didn't want to leave him here.

"Come on..we need to go, I'll carry you on my back." You said as you pick him up and put him on your back. He wraps his arms around your neck weakly and shivers against you. He was really warm. You grab a small blanket and throw it around your shoulders, covering him. He grabs it and pulls it around him tighter.

"Where are we going?" He asks before coughing again. You positioned the blanket around you so it was holding Sabo to your back.  
"We need to go find Luffy, there's something going on..." You said walking out into the hall and down the steps. Sabo coughs again and snuggles into your back.  
"Is he okay?" He coughs and you give him a small smile.  
"I want to be sure he'll be." You said as you make your way out the house.

"Where you going (Name)?" Someone says as you walk out your front door. You turn and your gaze meets Kid's. You looked at him surprised as you turn your body so you were between Kid and Sabo.  
"Kid what are you-?" You started but then a man walks up next to him holding a gun. You look at Kid who just smirks at you.

"Come on (Name)...we need to talk." He chuckles as the men take a step towards you.


	42. Trying 42: They don't understand!

-Luffy-

Luffy hops off the bus at Usopp's stop. Usopp follows and the both of them race into the trees right next to the bus stop. Luffy and Usopp jump over logs and cross an old looking homemade bridge and eventually they find themselves on a dirt path that leads to the old homes surrounding the terminal.

The town was fairly large in size, the east side being home to most of the rich and high class, and then there is the slightly above average people surrounding that area. Then you get the shopping district, and as you walk away from the rich folk area you see the classy shops slowly and steadily become your every day shops. Outside the shopping district is the inner city middle and upper class families. Mostly filled with beginner families and young adults. Law lives here in one of the fancy apartments.

Past the living areas there is a river where once you cross it you hit the lower class shopping district, here you will find things in bad condition, but cheap. And under the bridges there are large sewer pipes that lead to an underground area where the black market is. Kid actually has his base set up there at the moment.

The lower class district is the largest of all the districts and is split up into multiple groups. The largest group, which controls the black market area, is Whitebeards. The second largest area which controls where (Name) and the boys live is owned by the Red-haired Mafia, aka Shank's area.

But there is an area outside the city that surrounds the whole poor community, and it is filled to the brim with trash and thugs. The homeless and the sick all gather here, hunting for things that could bring them enough money for a sandwich, this is the terminal. Each class calls it something else, Dark terminal, Gray terminal, Death terminal, Hopeless terminal, but in the end it's always terminal.

Out side the terminal are people who have made their homes in the dark forest that surrounds the outer areas of the terminal. Wild animals often run freely, so not many people venture into there, let alone live in there.

But this is where Luffy's friend lived.

They follow the dirt path as Usopp looks around with a scared expression. He's glad he doesn't have to walk alone today.

Luffy was singing while swinging his arms at his side. Usopp sighs at his friends ignorance. Did he not care they were walking through a dangerous forest!?

"Luffy be quiet what if one of the animals hear you and come eat us!?" He hisses at his friend who looks over at him confused.  
"Why are you so scared? You live out here!" Luffy yells, making Usopp freak out.  
"So!? I don't like living out here!" He screams back, quickly covering his mouth and looking around fearfully. Luffy laughs at his friend.  
"Your weird!" He laughs, making Usopp sulk a bit.  
"I'm not weird..." He whines as they make their way through the forest. They eventually find a run down house at the end of the path.

This was the home for children who left the orphanage, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo were leaving to go live here when (Name) meet Luffy.

Luffy runs up to the door and bangs on it, only to have it fall over and land on the ground.  
"Opps." Luffy says while walking over the door. Usopp follows after him and sighs at the sorry state of the door.  
"Saaaanjiiiii!" Luffy calls out while heading in the direction that leads to the kitchen. Usopp sighs and follows after his friend.

Usopp enters the kitchen to see Luffy talking to an older blond boy, looking to be around thirteen or fourteen, but Usopp knows the kid so he knows that this is Sanji, a fourteen year old boy that lives here. Luffy begs Sanji for food, because he knows the blond boy enjoys cooking, and with a sigh the blond sets off towards the pantry in search for something that can tame the raven haired child's stomach. But we all know that's impossible.

"Usopp!" A high pitched voice squeaks behind him, turning around a tiny reindeer stood up on it's back legs and was smiling up at him, it's pink hat falling over his eyes.  
"Welcome home!" He says with a grin. Usopp smiles down at the reindeer and pats it's head.  
"Hey Chopper! I'm home.." He says to the reindeer as it shifts it's attention onto the raven haired boy.  
"Hi Luffy!" He calls out, gaining the attention of the hungry boy. Luffy gives Chopper a huge grin before running over to the two of them.  
"Hey Chopper! So did you think about it?" Luffy asks the reindeer, who fidgets nervously. Usopp looks nervous too, Luffy asked them to ask his new mom to take them in, so that they can stay together all the time like he does with his brothers. But Usopp and Chopper didn't know if they should, what if Luffy's caretaker didn't like them?

Luffy sees their tense expressions and huffs.  
"She might say yes!" He says crossing his arms over his chest. Usopp and Chopper exchange looks before turning back to the pouting boy.  
"What if she hates us...?" Chopper says fearfully, remembering the last humans that Luffy tried to get them to take him home. Usopp was nervous too, he is known for being a liar, who would want to take care of him..?

Both the long nose boy and the reindeer fall into a heavy and depressed silence. Luffy sighs at the both of them, why couldn't they see his new mom was nice!?


	43. Trying 43: The Underground

-Ace-

**An hour before Ace calls (Name)**

Ace and Marco make it to the bridge that connects the middle class and the lower class. They both look around for a moment before jumping over the side where there were stairs.

Down the steps and turning the corner so they were now under the bridge they walked over to the entrance of a very large sewage pipe. This was a side entrance to the base, but it was the closest to the bus stop they just jumped off of.

Walking into the pipe they make their way deeper underground. It was, for people who were unfamiliar with this path, surprisingly clean. But as the two boys passed a symbol on the wall it became obvious that this was not a normal path.

After a few more minutes they exited the tunnel where a boy with a pompadour haircut sat on a crate just outside the tunnels exit. The boy gives them a grin, a lollipop stick sticking out his mouth.  
"Hey guys!" He said while hopping off the crate, the boy looked to be thirteen or fourteen.

Ace gives the boy a huge grin and runs over to him.  
"Hey Thatch!" He says as Marco catches up. Thatch looks at Ace for a moment, his expression turning into a slight frown before turning back into a grin.  
"Pops want's to see you." He says and Ace frowns, he hasn't done anything to bad lately...

Thatch notices Ace's expression and smirks.  
"Did you do something again?" He asks and Ace has a slight pout.  
"No...?" He says, very unsure.

When you exit the tunnel you enter a very large and open area, the ceiling is about twenty feet high. There were makeshift buildings that stretched up and brushed against the ceiling. Lights were screwed into the stop, and they constantly stay on, some blinking as their bulbs begin to burn out. They walk along the main road, or the only road in this large underground town. Here the black market is located, stalls of illegal items, and mostly stolen items. Ace walks past one of the stalls and a man was selling guns. Walking past another there were stands with clear plastic containers. Upon closer inspection he would have see organs, but luckily Ace didn't look into the containers.

If they had traveled down a side street and into the lawless area, where the worst crimes are located. It was down here, underneath the underground city, where the dark of the most evil deeds are performed. And lately, whispers of unimaginable things have been seeping out of there.

Something was happening in this town, but only those involved know, for now.

After a few minutes of walking down the street, Ace found himself in front of a building he has come to recognize over the last few years. A small smile graces his lips as he almost skips into the building. Upon entering the building a group of men sat in the front area, it was similar to a reception area of a fancy hotel, it use to be old and run down but this group fixed it up and it now served as the base for Whitebeards group. The men sitting at a makeshift table in the center of the room grin when they saw the familiar freckled fireball.

"Hey Ace! He's been waiting for yah, go on in!" One of them called, waving to the kid as he passed. Ace walks over to a door that was next to a counter and opens it. Behind the door lead to a large room and at the center was a large chair with a large table in front of it. Ace almost bounces into the room with a large grin on his face. He reaches the large chair and grins up at the large man that sat on it.

"Hey Pops!" Ace says cheerfully, the old man looks down at the boy with a grin.  
"Ace..! It's been awhile since you've visited!" He says and Ace frowns.  
"Sorry.." He says while the old man just laughs.  
"It's fine...heard that woman almost beat up your teachers..." He says and Ace grins up at him and nods.  
"Yeah..She did! She punched one of them and sent them falling onto the floor!" He explains, he smirks every time he thinks back on that. Whitebeard laughs at Ace's smirk and sits up. Marco and Thatch enter the room but stand off to the side a bit.  
"Has anyone strange been seen around you lately, Ace?" Whitebeard asks, suddenly serious.

Marco and Thatch exchange looks, both of them have been noticing strange people have been following them. Some have even gone as far as to attack Marco, but he managed to take care of them himself. Ace looked a little confused by the question.

"No...?" He says while thinking back, but nothing stands out and the old man sighs, a bit relieved.  
"It seems that woman has probably scared them off then..." Whitebeard mutters before leaning back in his chair. Ace thinks about that for a moment and his eyes widen.  
"(Name) would suddenly disappear while we are walking places..." Ace says, maybe there had been people following him, but you always scared them off. Whitebeard pauses for a moment, thinking about something Ace didn't know.

"Ace...Does (Name) know your here?" He asks, Ace frowns and shakes his head. And the old man sighs, she was going to panic if she didn't know where he was. Whitebeard motions for one of the people sitting at one of the tables that littered the sides of the room, someone walks over and he manages to get a phone. He hands it to Ace and tells him to call you, Ace hesitates a moment before dialing your number, you made sure all three of them could recite it from heart.

After his conversation with you Whitebeard hangs up the phone and looks down at Ace. Just from talking to you for a minute the kid looked a little happier.  
"Do you like living with (Name)?" He asks the boy. Ace's smile falters for a moment, he asked this question before, twice even.

The first time was not long after he was adopted, before he got hurt and before he started school. He had ran off without his brothers and ended up down here. Back then Ace said he hated it, you were far to nice to them. And he was sure you'd hate him.

The second time was while he still had a slight lisp, after he was in the hospital. Ace at that point was still iffy about you, but didn't dislike having you around. He had said it was okay, nothing more. But nothing less.

Ace paused for a moment, he is giving you three months before he admits what he thinks. So silently he shrugs, avoiding the old mans gaze. Knowing his silence won't be counted as an answer he sighs.  
"I'm giving her three months..." He says, not really sure how to explain what he's doing.  
"Three months till what?" The old man grunts, Ace looks a bit uncomfortable.

"If she says she still loves us in three months I'll trust her..." He says finally, after a few minutes of silence. Whitebeard raises a brow at this, and after a minutes of thinking about what the boy has said he starts to laugh.  
"After all that has already happened you are still going to test her?" He laughs, Ace tenses a bit and frowns.  
"How do you think this makes her feel I wonder?" The old man muses, Ace looks up at him confused.

How would she feel?

"She takes care of you, and has fought for you. And she still is...and here you are being a stubborn brat!" He keeps laughing, Ace's face flushes red and he gets angry.  
"She could be lying!" He screams, but this just makes the old man laugh harder.  
"From everything that red head brat has told me about that woman, I doubt she'll lie to you." Whitebeard says suddenly, the laughter dying off. Ace frowns at this, he's noticed you can be a little too honest.

"But..." Ace says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other while looking at the floor.  
"Do what you want..I just want to tell you..." He shrugs while Ace looks back up at him.  
"Something is going on, so if your going to still come around, you need to be careful. She can't always be there to protect you." Whitebeard finishes, and suddenly Ace feels cold.

It was silent for a few minutes before Marco walks over to Ace.  
"Hey, let's go.." He says, pushing Ace slightly on the shoulder, Ace snaps out of his daze and looks over at the blond.  
"Train..?" Ace asks lightly, he normally ends up training when he comes here. Marco nods and both him and Ace walk back towards Thatch.

Whitebeard was right, you couldn't be there to protect them, so he was going to get stronger. He thinks back on the three months he gave you and frowns slightly...

did he really have to wait three months...?


	44. Trying 44: Flames

-Sabo-

They took her away.

Kid took her away from him, and he was to delirious to figure out where they went. Sabo shuddered and coughed violently in the little dark room they threw him into. He remembered the look of horror on her face as the door shut.

Were they going to hurt her...?

No! He pushes himself up off the floor and looks over at the door they threw him through. He let out a weak whine, trying to call out to you, but it was impossible. Tears start to build up, he felt so weak, everything hurt, but now they might hurt you too!

He stands up slowly and stumbles to the door.  
'Open please..!' He begs in his head, the world spins a bit and he collapses to the floor. He squeezes his eyes shut, he can't help you...

He thinks back to the ride here, he faded in and out of consciousness, trying to listen to what was going on.

You help him in your lap, holding him protectively to your chest as you glared at the blond wearing a mask beside you. You pat Sabo's back gently, this was one of the moments he fell asleep. When he woke up you were crying, tears streaming down your cheeks. When you noticed him watching you you gave him a weak smile, your lips tremble a bit. His eyes widen and he opens his mouth to say something but you shake your head and put a finger to his lips. You glanced beside you and he follows your line of sight. The man with the mask was facing away from the two of you, but you could feel his gaze. Looking behind him he see's Kid smirking at you and Sabo scowls at him, but he is far to weak to do much else.

He is startled out of his thoughts when the door opens, pushing against him. It stops and someone enters, Sabo looks over at the figure, but his vision blurs and goes black, and sleep takes over.

He wakes up again a few hours later, but this time he was on a dirty mat. A thin dirty blanket covers him, it's not much but it's better than it was before. Sabo looks over and notices the man in the blue and white mask. He walks over to Sabo and hands him a small cup filled with a cherry red liquid.

"Medicine." He says plainly as Sabo stares at the cup skeptically.  
"She asked me to give you some, well...begged actually.." The masked man says, turning away from the boy.  
"Even when she's being beaten as much as she is...she is still worried about you..." He says quietly, Sabo's eyes widen and he almost drops the cup. Killer walks away from the boy and before he leaves the room he looks back at the boy, although Sabo couldn't see his eyes he could feel his gaze.  
"Take it...because I won't be doing her another favor." He says smoothly before exiting the room, the door closed behind him with a click.

Sabo paused for a moment, looking down at the cup in his hand. They're hurting her...but she still begged them to get medicine for him...

He takes it, it tasted terrible, the medicine tasted faintly of cherries, but was very bitter and it almost made him throw it all back up. He forces it to stay down and glares at the door, tears build up in his eyes. She is getting hurt.

He thinks back to earlier, the red head had made her cry, what did he say? Sabo stands up, he was a bit steadier after his nap, but the world still spun around him. His fever sucked all the energy from him, he didn't use it often but he brought forth his flames and the door burned away in front of him. There were startled yells coming from the hall, but he didn't care.

Where did they keep you?

The hall caught fire and everyone nearby ran away from the flames. Sabo glanced at the fire around him, he didn't use it only because Ace got in trouble because of it. And not really wanting to get in trouble to he tried to avoid it.

But right now he was angry, and also in danger.

He was close to fainting again, but right now everything was on fire. Normally that isn't a problem, but he can't turn into fire if he isn't awake. So if he faints, then just like everyone else, he will burn too.

He stumbles a bit, the world blurring together, the smell of smoke took over. His power stutters a bit and his leg catches fire, he screams as his skin starts to burn, a burning piece of wood smacks him on the right side of his face. He screeches and brushes it away, his right eye burned.

He pushes forward, gaining control of his powers again as he pushes through the flames. He needed to find you, but where did they take you?

He stumbles a bit as he enters a large open room that the hall was attached to. The room was already burning, and anyone with any common sense has already left the building.

"(Name).." He calls out weakly, moving into the center of the room, did they take you out too? Kid seemed to want to keep you...so maybe you were already outside?

Before he can do much else the world blurs again, the room turns black and he falls to the ground as the flames overtake the room.

In his dream he finds you, a small smile graces his lips.


	45. Trying 45: I didn't want this

-Law-

Another punch to the face sent Law reeling back. He clenched his jaw as he spit out more blood. His ears were ringing, he can faintly hear you screaming in the background. He focused on your screams, wanting so badly to get to you, to stop what ever it was that was hurting you.

But he knew what was hurting you.

You didn't cry or scream when they beat you, it wasn't you that mattered to you. It was him, he has been in this position for two days now, Kid just brought you in not long ago. And the moment you saw him, the moment you realized it was him, you ran to him. You threw your arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug, it was the most comforting thing that has happened in the last few days.

"(Name)..." He choked out. He could see the tears that had fallen from your eyes already, what has he done to you? Law turns his gaze to Kid and narrows it into a glare as if to ask, what have you done? But the red headed man just smirks. When you don't release Law, Kid's smirk turns into a cold stare.

"Let him go." He growled, stomping over to the two of you and yanking the two of you apart. Law could instantly feel the absence of your touch, and craved for some form of comfort, not that he'll ever admit this.

It was not long after this that your beatings began, you were kicked, punched, stabbed with needles, bitten, and burned with a lighter. Kid scowled through all of this. He didn't like to see you hurt, he wouldn't admit this out loud but, this made him angry. With a huff he storms out the room and lets the men continue beating you, trying his hardest not to tear out their throats.

Law would scream at them, and in turn they would beat him, but you would scream at them. And the pattern would repeat back and forth until the both of them couldn't scream anymore. Eventually the men left and as badly as he wanted to, he couldn't reach you. Neither of you could move anymore, but you both listened to the ragged breath that escaped your lips.

"L-...La...aw..." You choked out and he slowly turned to you. He meets your gaze and you give him a broken smile and he mirrors it.

Eventually she fell asleep, she couldn't handle the pain anymore. Law watches as she slips into her dreams, her face looked peaceful, but he knew when she woke up that would be gone.

He remembers listening to her beg to Kid and his friend, Killer. Begging them to give medicine to the boy that was brought here with her. Kid said nothing but turned to Killer and nodded. Killer leaves the room and she gives Kid a broken smile.  
"Tha...nk...y...you.." She croaked, and that was when Kid snapped and left the room. He couldn't see her like this, and Law couldn't either.

Law smelled smoke and absently wandered which child was sick, which one did she bring? The door slams open and some men run in and grab him, they pull him out the room but they left (Name). Law tried to yell at them, to tell them to grab her. But he had no more energy, and slowly his vision began to fade.

"(Na...am...me...)" He whispers before it all goes black.

-Kid-

Saying he was pissed was an understatement. He sat in a room filled with tables and littered with empty beer bottles.

They were hurting her.

And he was suppose to allow this. He needed the money so he took a job from those noble wanna-be's. And he almost instantly regret it. He didn't mind beating up Law, but then they added (Name). Then they added the kids, and Kid scowled at the bottles across the room.

He had to kill those kids, but for some reason he didn't want too.

He had to kill Law, and even though he pissed the red head off, he didn't want too.

He had to kill (Name)...

With his power he yanked a metal stool away from one of the tables, but before it hit him he repelled it and it smacked into the wall. He lets out a low growl and runs a hand through his hair.

Smoke

Kid's head shoots up and his eyes narrow at the door, he smelled smoke. He stood up and ran out the room, smoke came from the eastern side of the house.

"The kid.." He realized this and he felt a bit of panic and started in that direction, but then he remembered you. They needed Law, but they didn't need you. Your room wasn't that far from the kids, so you would get burn quickly.

Kid felt like screaming, if he saved you and not the kid you would hate him forever. But if you saved the kid and not you then they would lose their mother. He ran in the direction of the kid's room and prayed that someone would save you. He would grab the kid and then go find you.

Kid reached the main entrance and froze, the kid was laying in the middle of the floor. Kid ran to him and picked him up, the left side of his face was burnt and so was his right leg.  
"Damn..." Kid muttered, looking at the sorry state the kid was in. He rushed out the entrance with the kid in his arms. He spot most of his group outside, some of them run up to him when they see him come out.

The kid groans and opens his eyes slowly, but lets out a wail when his mind registers the burns. He screams while clenching at his face and at his leg. Kid looked around at his group, giving them a look that asked them what the hell he's suppose to do?

One of them takes the screaming child and hits him over the head, the child instantly quiets and Kid punches the man.  
"Not like that!" He screams, everyone looks at him startled as Kid freaks out over the child.

You were going to kill him.


	46. Trying 46: Grim

You woke up to the smell of smoke. Choking and coughing you sit up slowly.

Sabo.

Your eyes widen as the boy's face flashes in your mind. You panicked.  
"Sa..!" You tried to scream, but your throat burned, your body hurt.

It was hot.

Flames began to peek into the room, burning everything and turning the walls and the floor black. You struggled to breath, your lungs were burning. The window broke as someone jumped in, your vision was fading again but you knew who this person was.

They walk over to you and pick you up, the person gives you a lopsided grin as he takes you and jumps out the window. He pulls you away from the burning building and towards the tree's out of sight of your captives.

"Sh...ha...an...kssss..." You dragged out the s as you lost consciousnesses.

-Shanks-

**One hour and thirty eight minutes earlier**

"Are you sure...?" Shanks said smoothly, he had a laid back look on his face. But anyone who made eye contact with him would have noticed the tension and the anger in his gaze.

Someone has taken a friend of his, as well as one of their children, captive. And according to their information, this friend was being beaten.

The man that brought this news to him looked terrified, but Shanks couldn't care less.  
"(Name)..." He groaned, running a hand through his hair. He closes his eyes for a moment as someone else walks up to him.  
"Ready to go?" They said and Shanks opens his eyes, his normal carefree look was replaced with a more serious expression.

"Let's go."

An hour later Shanks was leaning against a tree, glaring at the window that lead to the room you were in. He could hear you and Law screaming, and he was just standing there gritting his teeth.

Why hasn't he just busted in and helped you yet? Well...

This was as close as he could get without setting off alarms. Everyone else in his crew couldn't even reach the point he was at, if they tried they would have set off alarms. So he surveyed the window, waiting for something to change so he could rush in. Smoke rose from the east side of the house, a small frown creases the red head's features. A fire?

Shanks watches as the flames start to rise from the roof and spread quickly, almost as if the flames were alive...  
"Shit...Sabo..." Shanks immediately thought of the blond fireball and he almost ran forward, but stopped when he noticed you and Law had stopped screaming.

This could be the distraction he needed...

A few minutes pass and he notices someone has walked into the room, crouching and going closer he sees men grab Law and leave the room. The man looks down at (Name) as he's dragged off, but he seems to faint before they even pull him out of the room completely.

Shanks waited, wondering if they would come back, but he notices you came too and the fire had reached your room.  
"Dammit..!" He curses as he steps back a few feet. He runs at the window and crashes through it, he's lucky that it wasn't bullet proof otherwise running into it wouldn't have worked. He crashes inside and immediately covers his mouth with one arm and looks at you.

You seemed to be losing consciousness and so he quickly scooped you up into his arms and exited the way he came in. He pulls you away from the building and into the trees, he looks down at you as you whisper his name. You recognized him, that's good.

This was short lived though as you fainted in his arms. The red head panics slightly and picks you up. It's not safe here...

-(Name)-

**four days later**

You opened your eyes slowly and the first smell that greets you is a strong sent of disinfectant.

_A hospital room..._

was all that crossed your mind as your eyes adjust to the lights in the room. A deep breath in and you nearly scream, your lungs felt like they were on fire. Your chest felt like you have been crushed. Your legs and arms felt heavy like they had been tied down with lead weights. But this didn't bother you.

_Where was Sabo?_

"Saaaa...aaaaa...aaaaaah!" You started screaming, unable to form his names with your blistered lips. A nurse came in and frantically tried to calm you down while screaming for someone to help her. You didn't even hear here, your mind didn't register that she was there, only one thing was on your mind.  
"Saaa...Saaaaaaab..." You desperately tried to scream out for him, but you couldn't sit up, why did it feel like something was pushing you down?

"Ma'am please!" The nurse begged as a doctor comes in with a needle. You scream again, it hurt, everything hurt, but it hurt more not knowing what happened to him. You noticed the nurse finally and you grab her arm, staring directly into her eyes which causes everyone to freeze.  
"Ma...ma...my...s-so...so...son...?" You choke out and the nurses eye's widen and looks over at the doctor.

The doctor has a grim expression before he sticks you with the needle.  
"Ma'am I'll be sure to explain everything when you wake back up with a better frame of mind...but right now...sleep." He says softly as tears fall down your cheeks.

Why did he have such a dark look on his face?

_Sabo...?_

_Sabo...?_

You slowly relaxed as the drugs kicked in, you let out a soft sob as the nurse rubs your arm with a sad look in her eyes.

"Sa...bo...?" You whispered breathlessly as the drugs take over your consciousness.


	47. Trying 47: Sabo

-Luffy-

**3 days before (Name) woke up**

_(Name)...Sabo..._

Was all Luffy could think about as he sat next to the woman he wanted to start calling his mother. He bit his lip as he started to tremble again. Ace sat in the corner of the room, silently glaring at you, not mad at you, but at himself.

Why did he decide to wait three months, he might not even have three days? The freckled child slam his head back against the wall, fighting back an angry scream that wanted to escape his throat. The youngest child sat next to you, holding onto your hand. Afraid that if he lets go...

A sob escapes the boy, making the angry freckled child stop and look over at him. A growl escapes his lips.  
"Stop crying." Ace almost sounded like he was begging, he couldn't hold it together if he kept on like this.  
"I can't..." Luffy squeaks out, his voice cracking and ending with another sob.

_(Name) is might be dying._

_And Sabo was missing._

Ace couldn't take it any more, holding back a frustrated scream he runs into the hallway, nearly knocking down someone who was coming in. Ace looks up, tears brimming his eyes and a scowl in his face. His expression turns to shock when he notices who it was.

"Pops..!?" Ace gasped, backing up into the room as the large man walks inside. Luffy looks up surprised and clings onto you, he looks at you but then realizes you couldn't help him if something did happen, and he starts to cry again.

"(N-Nameeee) .." Luffy cries, balling up his fists and rubbing his eyes as he sobs loudly. Ace looks over at him and frowns, he then looks at you and a pained expression covers his features. Whitebeard notices this and pats the top of the boy's head.  
"She'll be fine.." He says, but Luffy sobs harder.  
"T-they said she might not make it..!" Luffy chokes out, sniffling. Whitebeard looks down at the tiny child with a frown. Who the hell tells kids their guardian might not make it?

"Why are you here, Pops?" Ace asks, trying to swallow down his anger. Whitebeard turns his attention to the freckled boy in front of him.  
"I came to get you until she wakes up..." He says, but then looks at Luffy.  
"And him.." He decides not to leave Luffy on his own, but the rubber boy shakes his head and clings to your arm while crying.  
"I don't wanna leave (Name)..." He whines, Ace glares at him.  
"Stop crying!" Ace snaps at him, Luffy looks at him with wide eyes and Ace immediately looks away guiltily.

"It's not safe for you two here..." Whitebeard says in a tone that leaves no room for arguing, but the rubber boy shakes his head again.  
"I'll watch him." Someone said behind Whitebeard. The old man turns his head and huffs.  
"Hello, brat." He greets the red head who just grins up at him.

"Whitebeard." Shanks greets as he walks into the room. Instantly the rubber boy bounces off his chair and clings onto the red head.  
"Shanks..!" Luffy sobs as Shanks picks him up. Wordlessly Shanks pats Luffy's back and glances at you.

You skin was pale where it wasn't bruised or burnt. You suffered terrible burns on your left shoulder and most of your neck, your left leg was also burnt pretty badly as well as your right foot. Those were going to leave some nasty scars. Your face was bruised, your right eye was swollen and black, blue bruises traveled down your jawline and you had seen how bad your chest was when they first brought you in. Shanks walks over to you and grabs your left hand and sighs, watching as a machine helps you breath in and out.

He knew that when you wake up you'll freak out.

_Law was missing._

_Sabo was missing._

And with that and the fact you will be in a extreme amount of pain...

"I'm sorry..." He says, brushing some of your hair out of your face before turning and leaving with Luffy in his arms.

-Kid-

Kid stared at the hospital entrance, wanting to go through those doors and up into your room. But he couldn't, he couldn't face you after what he's done.

Kid runs a hand through his hair as he starts up his bike. He had to return and fix this. He had to get your boy back.

Even though it's going to cost him.

-?-

He was screaming, loudly.

The world around him blurred and distorted.

_Help..._

He felt like he was burning, he felt like he was drowning.

_God why did no one help him...?_

-Law-

He woke up chained to a wall. He couldn't move and every breath he took was pure agony.

(Name).

That was all that crossed his mind, nothing more. He focused on the last time he saw you, and even thought about how the two of you meet.

Dammit...

Was there anything he could do...?

-?-

**2 Days before (Name) woke up**

The pain was still terrible, it felt like he had been suffocated. He could make out people talking in the background.

_Who's there...?_

_(Name)...?_

_Help me..._

-Law-

Kid stood in front of Law, just outside his cell.

"I made a mistake..." was the first thing that came out of Kid's lips. He didn't know why he was talking to Law, but he felt like he should tell someone.  
"I got her kid...He..." Kid started, but the look that came from Law actually made him stop.

Law looked furious.

_Was it for the kid..? Or because of (Name)..?_

Kid crossed his arms and sighed before pulling out a key ring.  
"You need to get better before she does..." He starts as Law looks at him both confused and pissed. Kid looked a bit awkward for a moment, looking away from Law.

"I piss her off...I scare her I know..." Kid says, Law's expression becomes neutral.  
"But I know she'll never forgive me if I let that boy die...and as long as they have them he will.." He finishes as he opens Law's cell. He looks directly into the stormy gray eyes of his rival.

"So we need to save him first..."

-(Name)-

**Seven hours after waking up the first time**

You opened your eyes, your head much clearer than before. The pain was terrible, but you remembered that doctors expression, and it haunted you. You slowly moved your left and grabbed the nurse caller. You pressed the button and squeezed your eyes shut, oh god did you hurt.

The nurse walks in several minutes later and you give her a pleading look. She meets your gaze and flinches, she was a young woman, she may have never had to give bad news before. The nurse walks over to your bedside and sits in the chair next to you and grabs your left hand. Her silent response caused you to start crying before she even said anything.

"I...Is...h...he...de...ea...ad...?" You choke out, your blistered lips found it hard to form the words. The nurse meet your gaze and shook her head.  
"Not dead..."She said and you sighed, he wasn't dead...

"He's severely injured..." She says before you get to relaxed. You tense again and look at her.  
"We don't know the condition he's in until he wakes up, most people wake up after two days but it's been four...so it's not looking to good..." She continues, watching your expression.

You looked so confused.

"They..."She thinks for a moment before rubbing your hand with her thumbs. She takes a deep breath and steadies herself.  
"They don't think he'll wake up..." She said slowly, your stomach drops and you feel your throat tighten.

"Sabo...is in a coma, and the doctors think he may never wake up..." She finishes, and your whole world falls apart.


	48. Trying 48: I found you

-?-

He could hear someone speaking to him. But it sounded so far away.

He couldn't make out the voice, he couldn't do anything.

_(Name)..._

-(Name)-

It had been several days since you've gotten the news on Sabo, and he still has shown no signs of recovery. Everyday you would be wheeled into his room and you would sit there for three hours and just talk to him.

You remember the nurse telling you that he couldn't hear you anymore, that he was already gone.

But you didn't want to believe that.

Today though, you would not give up.

The nurse came in and asked you to leave but you shook your head.

"I will not..." You said, before returning to what you were saying to Sabo. The nurse looked uncertain, but she left you anyways. Maybe it was time to let you grieve.

What was my name? Why couldn't I remember? I can hear the voice more clearly now...it was a woman...

_My name...what was it..._

_(Name)...help me..._

-(Name)-

You've been sitting there for over twelve hours, only ever pausing from your conversation to take a sip of water so your throat didn't dry out. The nurse had tried to make you move but you refused, you wouldn't give up on him.

You couldn't give up on him.

_Please wake up..._

I followed the voice, it never seemed to go away, it makes me happy, that this woman wouldn't leave me. The more I followed it the clearer my mind seemed to get.

_Sabo...yeah...that was me._

-(Name)-

It has been over eighteen hours since you began to talk to the boy. You sang songs, lullaby's you thought you'd forgotten.

You spoke him, told him stories you remembered reading, stories you had heard over the years, you even told him things you had told no one, the most sad things you had buried inside.

You prayed he could hear you, he has to hear you...

-Sabo-

I knew this voice...

_(Name)'s voice..._

She was talking to me, she sounded so sad. She would sing sometimes, the songs would be happy but her sad soft voice made his chest hurt. He wanted to tell her not to be so sad, but he couldn't move his lips. He could feel his body, because he could still hurt. But he couldn't move.

He could hear the nurses telling (Name) to stop talking, that he couldn't hear you anymore.

Were they talking about me?

_No..!_

_I can hear her! Don't make her go away!_

I waited for her to cave in, but she didn't. I kept following her voice, I needed to find her.

-(Name)-

Your body was in so much pain, but you refused to show it. And now here you were, for over a day and a half you sat here and talked endlessly to the boy. Your body was being pushed past it's limits, but you refused to move.

"(Name)..." A doctor says but you don't say a word to him, you keep singing a song to the boy.

"Please let him go..." The doctor begged, he couldn't stand seeing you and the kid like this. But you didn't turn around, you just stared down at the boy's face, brushing his hair away from his eyes.

_Wake up soon..._

-Sabo-

She sounded so much closer than before, and she hasn't gone silent. He can hear the nurses and the doctors begging her, but she wouldn't give up.

She wouldn't give up on him.

And this drove him forward. He was tired, he could just lay down and let it all fade away again, but you sounded so sad, and it drove him to push himself.

He would find you, he had too...

-(Name)-

It has been two days since you started this, and the nurses watch as your health spirals downward. People would visit, mostly people that would try to take the boy away, but they would see you in such a broken state and they didn't have the heart to throw you out.

They were watching you die, die trying to bring this boy back.

They would leave after an hour, watching as you teeter from side to side, as the light slowly fades from your eyes. You were dying for him.

And they couldn't watch this.

-Sabo-

She sounded so tired, the pain leaving her voice.

Was she giving up?

No she just sounds tired...how long has she been doing this? How long have I been asleep?

"Wake up..." She'd beg before rambling onto another story, or beginning another song.

_Okay...I'll try..._

-(Name)-

You had been at this for three days now, no food, only water. No bathroom breaks, and no rest.

You knew how this would end, but you just wanted to see him wake up. Tears fell down your cheeks and fell onto the boys hand. You started to sob as you sang, a nurse that had been sitting with you starts to cry silently, but she does nothing.

She would let you finish, you were beyond saving now.

-Sabo-

Her voice sounded so much clearer, like he could reach out and get you. But for some reason he felt sluggish, it took everything he could to move his fingers.

He needed to open his eyes...

He needed to find you.

-(Name)-

Shanks had visited every once in awhile, he didn't bring Luffy when he started to realize the state you were in. He took a seat next to you and watched you as you told him stories of you and your brother.

The light in your eye was dull now, and every word you said sounded breathless.

It has been four days now.

The redhead wanted to make you stop, but they aren't even sure if you could be saved anymore. If this boy dies, it will kill you.

He leans back and sighs, running a hand through his hair before looking down at the boy.

His fingers were twitching.

A small smile was on your lips as Shanks eyes widen.

"No way..." Shanks gasped.

-Sabo-

Her singing sounded happier, that's good. I could move my fingers, maybe she noticed?

I tried to move my arm, but I couldn't.

I had to try harder, I needed to open my eyes, I was right there. I was right here.

I tried to scream,

_I'm right here...see!_

_I can move my fingers...see!?_

I wanted to cry, why was it so hard?

-(Name)-

You finished another story, moving onto a song you thought you had forgotten. It was a song your mother sang to you as a baby. You would hum it whenever you got scared. You closed your eyes and started to cry as you sang.

You couldn't stay awake anymore...this was it...

-Sabo-

She was crying again...he could tell.

_I had to..._

He pushed himself as the world around him brightened. It was almost blinding.

The singing was so loud now, like it was right next to him.

It took him a moment, as the brightness subsides. He realizes, that he's opened his right eye, unable to open the left one.

"I..." He started, his voice as weak and he sounded breathless.

"Fou...nd...y...ou..." He gasps out as she opens her eyes. They were no longer dull, but filled with a light and emotion that Sabo couldn't quite recognize right now. She smiled and leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"Yes...you did..." She whispered leaning back. She looked dazed for a moment before her eyes close and she collapses onto the floor.

Her body couldn't take it anymore, she's fallen apart.


	49. Trying 49: They need you!

-Ace-

_Sabo...(Name)..._

He sat next to your bed and held onto your left hand and stared at it as he losses himself in his thoughts.

He has been living with Whitebeard while Luffy has been with Shanks, they still see each other at school, but it has not been the same since you've been gone.

Sabo got well enough to go home after about two weeks, but his parents took him away.

Ace still remembers Sabo screaming at them up until his father said something to him, then he looked terrified and upset. Ace clenches his hands around yours and glares at your pale face.

They threatened him, he knows it.

And the one person who could possibly help him, is in a coma. It has been two months since you went under. Shanks is the only reason you are still on life support. Ace comes in every day for the last two months and talks to you, but you never respond, and everyone is sure you never will.

"(Name)..." He says out loud, it's only when he's alone that he shows how he is feeling. Tears build up in his eyes and silently fall down his cheeks.  
"Wake up...we need you..." He says again, for the hundredth time since you've been gone. But nothing changes, your heart rate stays the same and there is no signs of life coming from you.  
"I need you..." He cries silently, laying his head down next to the bed with his forehead on your hand.

It was so cold...

-Sabo-

Sabo leans back in his chair and sighs, he really hates having to study like this.

He looks around his old room, a room he ran away from, but now was stuck in it again. Everything was neat and well kept, everything was where it should be, but this isn't where he wanted to be.

He hasn't seen his brothers in over two months, and there isn't a day that goes by that he wants to run away and go back. But back to where?

You were still in a coma...

And as long as you were, his father could get you. With one order he could have you pulled off the machine that was keeping you alive and let you die.

Sabo bites his lower lip as it starts to quiver a bit.

He didn't want that...

-Luffy-

He wasn't hungry, which was unusual for this boy.

He stared at the food on his plate, his mind somewhere else. His brothers were gone. And so was the woman that took care of them.

Shanks was watching him, he could see that, but he didn't care.

He wanted you to make him something, wanted you to play with them again, wanted you to show up and take them home like when you first meet them.

But you couldn't, and you probably never would.

He started to cry again, hearing the red haired man sigh as he gets up and walks over to the boy. He starts sobbing as he gets picked up and held.

He wants to go home...

"(Naaameeeeee)!" He cried as the man pats his back, trying to sooth him. But it wouldn't work, he would, just like every other time, cry himself to sleep.

-Kid-

He looks down at the broken form of a human being in front of him.

_Law_

Ever since you went into a coma Kid's temper would flare, and Law ended up being on the receiving end of his anger. But Law didn't care, Kid knew this. The pain from Kid's torture wasn't as bad as the waiting, waiting for you to either wake up or die.

Both of them hated the waiting, but they had no choice.

And so they wait...

For you.

-(Name)-

You knew you were asleep.

Everything in your dream was perfect, down to the very last detail. That was a red flag to you when you first 'woke up' in the hospital.

Law was fine.

The kids were okay.

Sabo was awake.

It was perfect.

But that's when you knew it was a lie.

You sat in the park with the boys on the playground. They weren't your boys. But they looked so much like them, the acted so much like them.

But it wasn't them.

You took a deep breath and sighed as you close your eyes while leaning your head back. You needed to wake up, because something had to be going on in the real world, but you couldn't.

This world felt so real.

This world felt to safe.

You wasn't a monster here.

And you didn't want to leave...

Your eyes snapped open and you let out a low growl. That's why you couldn't leave. Everything was perfect. You didn't have to hurt anymore, you could pretend it was all okay.

_They need you..._

The voice rang out through the playground, almost getting drowned out by the children laughing. You bit your bottom lip, it didn't hurt. This made you want to cry, but you couldn't.

_Luffy..._

You watched the hyper rubber boy jump around on the jungle gym, reminded of when you first took him here. You smiled at the memory, but then frowned at the image in front of you. That little hyper boy followed you around like a little duckling ever since he got kidnapped.

_He's probably scared without you..._

The voice whispered, being carried in the artificial wind. Your frown deepened at the thought of the boy being upset. You want to help him.

Suddenly the Luffy in front of you falls and lands on his head, sitting up he starts crying for you. You get up to go to him when the wind speaks again.

_It's not him..._

The voice practically begged you to ignore the illusion in front of you. Luffy reached out his arms to you when you started walking over to him. Your heart started to beat faster, he wasn't really there. You needed to fight the illusion, but his crying made your heart break.

_They need you...the real them._

The voice reminded you, giving you the strength to turn from the illusion and walk away.

At first the boy screams louder, but then suddenly it's gone. Startled by the sudden silence you turn and see all the children were gone. All the parents were gone.

Your perfect world shattered, the moment you accepted the truth.

_Wake up... they need me!_

The voice was louder now. You took a deep breath and started walking.

You needed to go home! You needed to wake up!

They needed you!


	50. Trying 50: The Exit?

You walked into you house, well the fake one anyways.

It was hard getting use to looking at everything and going, hmm well I'm in a coma so this is obviously fake! Even though everything in front of you looked so real. You hummed to yourself as you walked through the house.

They boys' things were everywhere, but they were nowhere to be seen.

_It's because we know..._

The voice admits softly, you looked around the empty house once more before leaving. Next time you walked through this door, it would be your real home, you swore on this.

You walked around the town, you had never seen it so lifeless, so quiet.

_Our life before them was always quiet...but even more so now that they are gone..._

The wind carries the voice and your frown deepens, it was right. Your life felt empty after what happened with your brother, and having the three of them, even for a short amount of time that it was. It was wonderful. You missed them so much, the illusions made you feel lonelier.

_Sabo..._

He had just woken up from his coma when you fell into yours, you smiled slightly, it still made you happy knowing you woke him up.

_They might have taken him away..._

You covered your ears, knowing that this is in your head it wouldn't help block out the truth in that sentence. They would have come for him, so right now those people probably have him.

It made you angry.

If they hurt him you were going to be pissed, if they made him cry you were going to hurt them, if they threatened him and anyone else you would kill them. But in order to do that, you needed to wake up.

You wish you could ask Law how to wake up...

_Law..._

You remember now, he was being beaten last you saw him. You felt your heart travel up your throat.

Oh god is he okay?

You needed to wake up, you have too...but how?

You thought about the stories you've read when you were younger, everyone experience something different when they go into a coma. Some people see darkness, mazes, what they want to see, and then their daily lives. Some people swore up and down they were never asleep.

But they end up leaving once they get somewhere they don't want to go. To their accident sight, for you that's the hospital. But no terrible feelings about the hospital comes to mind, other than the cringe towards the idea of getting a shot.

So where do you not want to be? The orphanage?

No it makes you happy to remember that place, it's where you meet the boys.

Suddenly you froze then the voice whispers again.

_You know where to go..._

"No!" You screamed in the middle of the street. You were glaring at the clouds that floated lazily in the sky.  
"I won't go there, I swore I'd never go back!" You screamed again, but you knew that was where you had to go.

_They need you..._

"I need you..." You heard Ace sob, but you couldn't pin point where his voice was coming from. But you were aware that it wasn't in your head. You felt your throat tighten and you wanted to cry.

They were waiting for you.

You covers your face with your hands and fall to your knees and screamed.  
"Cole..." You cried, but no tears came from your eyes, you couldn't cry in here, no matter how much it hurt.

You knew where you had to go.

You stand up, the sky had turn a reddish purple and the clouds a grayish black. The streets looked more menacing before.

Your mind was fighting you.

_Ace..._

He was calling to you, every day you could hear him. He was always there...

You glare ahead of you. You would face your worst nightmare if it meant going back to them.  
"Ace...Luffy...Sabo...Law..." You whispered each of their names, your whisper seemed to echo and grow louder until you were filled with a strength you didn't have before.

"I'm going home." You said as you start walking forward, in the direction of the one place you never wanted to go.

You reached the building of your old home, your old family.

An illusion of Shanks stood at the entrance, with the same stupid grin on his face. But it wasn't him that bothered you, your eyes were glued to the roof.

"Cole..." You whispered, eyeing the boy who was giving you same smile he always had.  
"Hey Sis!" He called down, a lazy wave as he jumped from the roof. He looked older, like you'd imagine he'd look if he'd still been alive.

He's gone...

That voice nearly broke your heart, you wanted so badly to believe you hadn't killed him, that he was right here. When you don't respond to him he gives you a sad smile and reaches out to you. You fight the urge to hug him, to cry.

"(Name)..." You hear Ace again and you flinch away from your 'brother'.  
"Sorry...Cole..There's something I have to do." He frowned at your response and crossed his arms like he did whenever he didn't agree with what you were doing.  
"But (Name)-" He starts but you shake your head, making him fall silent.  
"Good bye Cole...Your already gone..." You said, knowing that if you were awake you'd be crying. Cole's face goes blank and his eyes go lifeless. The look he has sent shivers down your spine and it sends you stumbling backwards a bit.

"(Name)..." He says, his throat turned red and you shuddered. That was the same spot you...

You couldn't finish that thought as you turn away from him. You couldn't face him anymore, you needed to focus...focus on what...

_Ace...Sabo...Luffy..._

The voice answered and you froze, that's right.  
You looked back at your brother and nearly screamed, he had a hole in his neck, like something had taken a bite out of him.

That something, was you.

You gagged as blood poured from his throat, every shallow gasp he took made blood squirt a bit. He stumble towards you, and arm outstretched. You scream and run around him, you had to get into the building, remember why you had to wake up.

You passed Shanks, he just grins at you, his eyes now lifeless compared to the Shanks you knew. You passed into the building and ran through it. You knew where you had to go.

You reach the back door that lead to the training ground and you paused. Your hand hovered over the handle, you take a deep breath and open it.

The light was blinding, you couldn't make out anything outside and no matter how much time you gave your eyes to adjust they didn't. A bit nervous you walk forward into the light, hoping this isn't the type of light you think it is.


End file.
